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DOING OVER 

A TOUR 
EASTWARD AROUND THE WORLD 

January to August 
1906 

INCLUDING TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS 
TAKEN FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 

F, M. HUSCHART 




Cincinnati 

THE ROBERT CLARKE CO. 

J907 



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DOING OVER 

A Tout Eastward Around the World 



PREFACE 

Intended originally for my own personal pleasure, 
but having been urged by friends to put them into 
book form, these notes are submitted, not as an effort 
to picture in all the details their life, customs, laws 
and religions of the peoples in the countries visited 
upon this tour around the world, but as representing 
my observations and impressions of things as I saw 
them, to which is added some information derived 
from guide books and from individuals. 

In my enthusiasm over the tour I confess to a dis- 
position to have my friends and others share, if 
possible, in part, at least, through the reading of this 
book, the interest I felt while making the trip. Many 
of the sights seen it will be impossible to picture from 
the mere reading thereof. This applies especially to 
India, which, because of the wondrous and weird as 
well as thrilling stories oft-times told, is by many refer- 
red to as more or less a land existing only in the 
mind of some versatile dreamer. I leave to the reader, 
however, to judge of the merits of my effort to pic- 
ture my observations. 

F. M. H. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Scene of Our Thrilling Temple Experience, Hampi, 
India 



FRONTISPIECE 



Hindu Burning Ghat, With a Body Ready for 

Cremation, Bombay Facing Page 28 

Tomb of Kahn Muhammad, Bijapur, India " 37 

Great Mausoleum or " Gol Gumbaz,'^ Bijapur, 

India ** 44 

Tower of Fame, Chitorgarh * ' 53 

Elephant which Carried Us to and from Chitorgarh ' ' 60 

Caravan Going Through the Khyber Pass " 69 

Rural Scene Out From Delhi, India " 72 

Nautch (or Dancing) Girls of India " 73 

Mohammedan Anniversary Celebration, Agra, India " 76 

Native Barber, India * ' 85 

Great Temple to Buddah at Buddh Gaya, India. " 92 

Our Traveling Outfit through India *' 101 

Burmese Girl and Pagoda Shrines, Burma " 108 

Natives Diving for Silver Coins at Colombo " 145 

Donkey Ride at Chin-wang-tao, Northern China. " 160 

On the Pasig River, Manila. " 177 

Baron Von Ketteler Memorial Arch, Pekin " 192 

Temple and Grounds, Shizuoka, Japan " 257 

Street Scene in Miyoshi, Interior of Japan " 272 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

The Start Around, Including a Thirteen Days' Voyage 1 

CHAPTER n. 
A Rough Experience on the Mediterranean and Eleven Days 

More of Voyaging 13 

CHAPTER HI. 
India and the Beginning of Our Sight-seeing 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

Some Thrilling Experiences in Out-of-way Places 38 

CHAPTER V. 
We Enjoy the Hospitality of a Rajah — A Visit to Mt. Abu.. 50 

CHAPTER VI. 
More Sights in Out-of-way Places, and the Khyber Pass 62 

CHAPTER VII. 
Treats Principally of Delhi and Agra, the Show Towns of 

India , 71 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Sacred City of Benares, and Buddh Gaya 83 

CHAPTER IX. 

Darjeeling and the Himalayan Mountains 91 

CHAPTER X. 
Of Burma, the Burmese and Mandalay 103 

CHAPTER XI. 
Back to Southern India, at Madras, and Visit to Trichinopoli 114 

CHAPTER XII. 
A Resume of the Trip Through India 125 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Island of Ceylon and the Cities of Colombo and Kandy. 137 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Seven Days Aboard Ship to Java, Thence to Singapore 145 

CHAPTER XV. 
Hongkong, Canton and the Cantonese 160 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XVI. PAGE 

Manila and the Philippine Islands 172 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Back to China and Voyage Through the Yellow Sea and Gulf 

of Pechili Past Port Arthur 185 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Extreme Northern Part of China, the Great Wall in its Ap- 
proach to the Sea, and Pekin 192 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Nanking, the Old Chinese Capital, and the Yangtze-Kiang 

River 205 

CHAPTER XX. 
Shanghai and the Chinese 216 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Japan, the Japanese, and Our First Experience of Japanese Life 225 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Through the Interesting Inland Sea to the Sacred Island of 

Miyajima 242 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Simple Life of the Japanese as Seen by Rikishas Through the 

Interior 248 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Kyoto, the Show Town of Japan 262 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Miyanoshita, the Popular Summer Resort of Japan 278 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The Capital (Tokyo) and the Famous Temple Town of Nikko 287 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
The Fifty-four Hundred Mile Voyage, Yokahama to San Fran- 
cisco 302 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
The End of the Tour 314 



DOING OVER. 



A TOUR EASTWARD AROUND THE WORLD 
JANUARY TO AUGUST, 1906. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE START AROUND, INCLUDING A THIRTEEN DAYS' 
VOYAGE. 

After about ten years of anticipation and longing, 
I finally left Chicago, eastward bound, on Wednesday, 
January 3, 1906, and the following Saturday found 
myself, with tw^o Cincinnati friends as companions, 
on board the steamship Hamhurg, sailing from New 
York. 

Alexandria, Egypt, via Gibraltar and Naples, was 
the objective point of landing and where we were due 
on January twenty-first, from whence a two days' 
visit to Cairo was to have been the beginning of our 
real sight-seeing on the tour around the world. 

The day was a crisp one with broken clouds, occa- 
sional snow flurries and a temperature about freezing. 
Considering the time of year, it was an ideal day for 
the start on a voyage that was to take us into the hot 

[1] 



DOING OVEE. 

climate of the orient. While the Hamhurg lay at her 
pier in Hoboken, on the day of departure, passengers 
began, about noon, to pass up the gangway for the 
voyage across to Naples. By two o'clock the ship's 
decks were crowded with more or less excited people 
made up of those who were going on the voj^age and 
friends who had come to see them off; of the latter, 
there appeared as many as of passengers, with here 
and there a small group in lively or earnest, if not 
serious, conversation during the fast expiring time 
still remaining before departure. After the usual 
warning to those who were not to be passengers and 
the exchange of hand shakings and bon voyages be- 
tween parting friends and the final disappearance 
down the gangway of the last of the visiting parties, 
the ship 's crew, at about two-forty weighed anchor for 
the run to Naples, four thousand, one hundred and 
fifty-seven miles. (Distance, New York to Gibraltar, 
three thousand, two hundred and seventeen miles.) 
There was the usual waving of handkerchiefs between 
friends while the Hamhurg was being towed from her 
pier and out into the stream. 

No relatives or friends had come to see me off, but 
letters and telegrams from distant ones had been sent 
me in care of the Hamhurg. These messages of God 
speed on a journey that was to take me as many as 
thirteen thousand miles from loved ones and friends 

\2] 



DOING OVER. 

had all the cheering effect that could have been wished 
for by the most solicitous. 

It had been about nine years since my last voyage 
to a foreign land, in consequence I was thrilled with 
pleasure at being aboard ship again, — to say noth- 
ing of my inward enthusiasm over the prospects of a 
trip for which I had so long hoped — the tour of the 
world, upon which I was now started. 

As the Hamburg steamed down the bay toward 
Sandy Hook, seaward bound, in the midst of my leap- 
ing spirits I became conscious I had been scrutinizing 
the faces of those on board, to read, if possible, the 
prospects ahead in new acquaintances. In a very 
little while the ship's passenger list was scanned, 
when it developed that of the two hundred and four 
first cabin passengers one hundred and thirty-three 
were women and of the latter sixty-five were registered 
as unmarried. Here was a prospect for those of us 
unmarried men of whom, so far as was apparent, 
there were comparatively few. A pleasant surprise 
had come to me only a few days prior to sailing in the 
information that in addition to the two Cincinnati 
companions referred to at beginning of these notes, 
another friend and his wife were to be fellow passen- 
gers. The latter two added much to my pleasure of 
the voyage, as to the wife I could confide my little 
love affairs, and as reward for the confidence get her 

[3] 



DOING OVER. 

sympathy, encouragement and advice, all so needful 
to an inexperienced bachelor. 

As the voyage was but just begun, however, I must 
not anticipate, but as much as possible refer only to 
incidents of the trip as they followed. In addition 
to the first cabin passengers there were on board about 
one hundred and thirty-five steerage, nearly all Ital- 
ians returning to sunny Italy for the winter only to 
return to the United States in the spring. 

Our good ship, four hundred and ninety-eight feet 
long, sixty feet beam, a depth of thirty-eight feet, 
and of ten thousand six hundred tons displacement, 
with a crew of two hundred and sixty-eight officers 
and men, while slow, was pretty steady, and rode the 
high seas of the Atlantic with comparatively little 
rolling or pitching. Notwithstanding, however, the 
heavy seas experienced proved too much for some of 
the passengers, as will appear later in these notes. 
The steamer was fairly comfortable as to appoint- 
ments and service. I was fortunate in having to my- 
self a small stateroom, fairly well located, much to 
my satisfaction. 

At table in the dining room we were placed at one 
seating eight, including, besides our own party of 

three (for the world's tour), a Mr. O'D and 

daughter, of New York (and standard oil), a Mr. 

and Mrs. W , of Minneapolis, and a Mr. B , 

[4] 



DOING OVEE. 

of Washington, D. C. The latter, for a good part of 
the voyage to Naples, proved a jovial character, then 
let down and became very tiresome. The table party 
as a whole, however, was a congenial one and much 
envied by other passengers. The first day of the voy- 
age had passed, then the second and yet another, with 
no stirring incident to change the now, steadily get- 
ting acquainted, small community closely housed 
aboard ship. Some of these new acquaintances proved 
pleasant as some of them also were interesting. 

The Gulf Stream had been reached and as it was 
crossed diagonally we were said to be two days going 
through it. The temperature now had gone up to 
about sixty-five degrees and on the third day, with 
threatened rain, a high wind and consequent rolling 
of the ship (we were going in the trough of the sea), 
a number of passengers sought the seclusion of their 
staterooms, no doubt to moralize on the disadvantages 
of sea voyages. 

On the fourth day occurred an embarrassing inci- 
dent for the gallant one of our party. The latter had 
invited some half dozen girls and as many of us men 
to a lunch to take place about nine o'clock in the 
evening back in the second cabin. The latter was 
unoccupied except for a few overflow first-cabin pas- 
sengers, hence offered a good place for a pleasant little 

[5] 



DOING OVER. 

affair as above and away from the gaze of other pas- 
sengers. 

At the appointed time parties of two or more 
could be seen working their way back toward the sec- 
ond cabin to do which it was necessary, also, to cross 
over the spar deck. The ship was now rolling and 
pitching at a lively rate ; had been in fact all day, and 
as the deck between the first and second cabins was 
open it was also exposed to any waves breaking over 
it. While some of the party were crossing they were 
drenched by one of those high waves. Once all were 
in the second cabin saloon, seated about a table and 
no doubt in pleasant expectancy of what was in 
store, our host gave the order to serve wine. To the 
host, who was at my side, the wine must have seemed 
an interminable time coming ; at any rate he confided 
to me that he felt signs of an approaching upheaval 
(seasickness). In the midst of the good cheer prev- 
alent, when wine had been served, lo! our host had 
disappeared. A hostless party is an awkward situa- 
tion, hence, under the circumstances, adjournment was 
soon suggested and readity complied with, for it de- 
veloped that some of the guests would soon have fol- 
lowed the host's lead and disappeared to their respec- 
tive staterooms. Thus abruptly ended what our genial 
host had intended to be a pleasant evening affair, and 
drinking his health, intermingled with expressions 

[6] 



DOING OVER. 

of regret over his lamentable temporary condition, we 
quickly found our way back to the comforts of the 
first cabin. 

Going steadily eastward toward the rising sun, 
each day was cut short twenty to forty minutes, de- 
pending upon the distance voyaged and the degrees 
of latitude southward in our course. The days also 
seemed growing shorter as we became more acquainted 
with the passengers. The fifth day out brought with 
it bright sunshine, a much smoother sea, which also 
brought out of hiding and onto the upper decks those 
erstwhile absent (seasick) passengers. These latter 
are really objects of sympathy, as any one knows who 
has ever had a like experience on shipboard. On this 
evening, during dinner, that irrepressible gallant of 
our party (who by this time was recovered from the 
previous evening's experience) sent to the table of 
one of the newly made girl acquaintances, whose 
birthday it was, a birthday cake, with sixteen lighted 
candles on it. The poor girl entirely unprepared for 
the surprise was much embarrassed at the merriment 
occasioned, and yet, no doubt, enjoyed the attention 
shown her. The diplomatic selection of sixteen can- 
dles on the part of our irrepressible was like him, for 
thus the candles, so attractive on a birthday cake, 
could be added without exposing the young lady's 

[7] 



DOING OVEE. 

age, that precious secret with most girls once they 
have reached the still tender age of twenty-one. 

The sixth day out, January twelfth, the passengers 
appeared quite at home with one another, and in 
consequence life aboard was more or less a continu- 
ous round of visits between groups of newly made 
acquaintances. The weather on this day and the next 
was dismal and rainy, but thanks to the numerous 
acquaintances one could keep off gloom that must 
otherwise have resulted, depending, of course, upon 
the individual. 

St. Michaels, the last of the Azores group of islands, 
was passed on the morning of the seventh day, and 
though off shore about two miles, towns and villages, 
besides cultivated lands, could be pretty well seen 
through field glasses. 

More rainy weather on the eighth day, and a calam- 
itous one it proved to several passengers in a poker 
game experienced with the ship's poker sharks. On 
the afternoon of the ninth day, about half past two 
o'clock, land was again sighted; this time Point St. 
Vincent, the extreme southernmost point of Portugal. 
In the evening was given the first dance of the voy- 
age, thus giving newly made acquaintances a further 
opportunity to become possible lasting friends. The 
dancing was under more or less difficulty because the 

[8] 



DOING OVER. 

ship continued to do some rolling, but the dancers 
seemingly enjoyed the sensation none the less. 

It was becoming apparent that that rascally little 
fellow ''cupid" was hovering about — needless to say 
that the ship's gossip was making matches regardless 
of him. As to the latter, I thought for a moment 
during the voyage the whir of his wings were audible 
even to me, but it evidently was a false alarm, at least 
if he had previously made his presence known to me 
it must have been in derision since there was no repe- 
tition of the incident. 

At six o'clock on the morning of the tenth day, 
we anchored in the beautiful harbor of Gibraltar, and 
at eight o'clock, on a tender, we went ashore. The 
city with its twenty-two thousand population was very 
attractive. Its population, aside from six thousand 
British soldiers, is largely Moorish and Spanish, 
though the Spanish town proper is several miles from 
Gibraltar. A strip of about a half mile separates 
English Gibraltar from Spain and is neutral terri- 
tory. Gibraltar, built on the side of the rock of Gib- 
raltar, is largely Moorish, Spanish architecture, with 
narrow zigzag streets, the principal one being as- 
phalted. 

Aside from the fact that I had not been in a 
foreign land for nine years, the Moorish and other 
oriental peoples looked very picturesque and fascina- 

[9] 



DOING OVER. 

ting to me. The market place was crowded with these 
interesting people to whom we foreigners seemed of 
no especial interest — very naturally because foreign- 
ers are here more or less all the time, Gibraltar being 
one of the ports where most passing vessels stop if 
for but a few hours. We spent but three hours in the 
place, then aboard ship again proceeded on the nine 
hundred and forty miles voyage to Naples. Through 
the streets of Gibraltar innumerable donkeys loaded 
down with charcoal and fruits monopolize much of the 
space, though I saw a boy loaded down with enough 
weight to bend a man. On the day of our visit the 
Congress of Nations was sitting at Algeciras, Spain, 
over the Moroccan question, and which eventually de- 
cided in favor of France as a sort of protectorate, as 
I recall it. At Gibraltar, we had already gone so far 
east, sun time, that we were about six hours ahead of 
that in New York. 

On the eleventh day out from New York, beginning 
about noon of the day before, when we left Gibral- 
tar, passing between it and the Moroccan coast oppo- 
site, where is the city of Tangier, we proceeded up 
the Mediterranean, with a beautiful sunlight, but 
crisp atmosphere, without any wind except that pro- 
duced from the motion of the ship. From time to 
time we could see outlines of the Algerian coast. 
Throughout the voyage to date but few other vessels 

[10 1 



DOING OVER. 

had been seen, but in the Mediterranean numerous 
craft of various kinds were met with frequently. 

Another evening of dancing, and by this time 
cupid's darts seemed to be taking effect on several of 
the younger people, while gossip was at work getting 
us older bachelors mated. Ship's gossip is really 
amusing and takes the place of the daily newspapers, 
so to speak, for without it a sea voyage would lack 
one of its specially spicy morsels. There is no place 
on earth, probably, where for short periods small 
communities are thrown so closely together as on 
shipboard, and while a ship's acquaintance does not 
necessarily continue on land, many warm friends are 
thus made, to say nothing of the numerous love af- 
fairs. Surrounded for days by sky and water, rest- 
less water probably, and star-bedecked skies, or moon- 
lit nights, the air is surcharged with feelings akin to 
romance, assuming of course that a stranger influence 
— seasickness — is not at work. 

On the twelfth day out we passed the island of 
Sardinia in the Mediterranean, with ideal weather 
above and around us, while sailing on the beautiful 
blue sea. 

We had averaged about three hundred and fifty 
knots per day when on the morning of the thirteenth 
we arrived in the harbor of Naples, having made the 
run from New York in twelve days, seventeen hours, 

[111 



DOING OVER. 

less the six hours difference in time. Thus ended 
safely a voyage notable for pleasant acquaintance- 
ships, of two or three known love affairs, followed by 
a scattering in various directions of the erstwhile ship- 
board gathering to meet, perhaps, not again, but yet 
leaving behind trails of pleasant recollections. 



12] 



CHAPTER II. 

A ROUGH EXPERIIiNCE ON THE MEDITERRANEAN AND 
EI.EVEN DAYS MORE OF VOYAGING. 

Our arrival at Naples a day late of the schedule 
time made it apparent that the trip to Alexandria and 
Cairo must be abandoned, accordingly we bade fare- 
well to the Hamburg. Arrangements were soon there- 
after completed for the voyage from Brindisi, Italy, 
via the P. & 0. mail steamer for Port Said, where we 
were to overtake the steamship China, on which we 
had previously engaged passage for the voyage to 
Bombay. My first and keenest disappointment of the 
entire tour thus stared me unsympathetic ally in the 
face, since I had counted on great interest and pleas- 
ure in the two days' visit in Cairo, before the start 
for Port Said. My disappointment found no com- 
fort in the fact that in the voyage from Brindisi we 
would pass within one hundred miles of Alexandria. 
However, no alternative was left us but to abandon 
the visit to Cairo for some possible future time. Thus 
the two days we expected to have put in at Cairo were 
required to be spent in Naples. Because of a contin- 
ued cold rain, and that the members of our party had 
previously visited Naples, but little effort was made 
[13 1 



DOING OVEE. 

at sight-seeing. We here picked up another Cincin- 
natian, who, as per previous arrangement, was to join 
us for the tour around the world, thus making four in 
our party. Therefore, on the night of the twenty- 
first of January, at ten-twenty o'clock, we boarded 
the train and started for Brindisi, where we were due 
on the following morning. The sleeper in which we 
made the trip was far from the Pullman style of com- 
fort, in fact was small and very uncomfortable — and 
in order to permit three of us to recline half way on 
the seats, one of our party stretched out on the floor. 
Here our steamer rugs came into service for there was 
no bedding and what an uncomfortable night it was. 
In all our round of the world's trip we had no such 
discomfort in a sleeper, not even in India or Burma. 
We struck a cold rainy day and other discomforts 
in Brindisi, and were required to wait until evening 
before we could go aboard the ship for the fifty-four 
hour run to Port Said. Brindisi had but one hotel 
that was supposed to be decent enough for foreign- 
ers, and this one was just opened the day of our ar- 
rival after having been closed for some time, hence 
poorly prepared to care for us. The place was cold 
and cheerless, and the one meal, lunch, about one 
o'clock, was apparently gotten together from any old 
stuff that could be found in the town. Brindisi is 
an old town and important mainly as a jumping off 

[14] 



DOING OVER. 

place for those travelers who come overland through 
the continent for India via Port Said and Bombay. 
Brindisi is at the extreme southern point of the Adri- 
atic Sea and on the Gulf of Tarahto. Fortunately we 
were allowed to go aboard the steamer, Isis by name, 
in time to get dinner. Needless to say the latter was 
relished after a tough breakfast aboard train en route 
to Brindisi and the lunch in the latter place as re- 
ferred to above. We had been asleep on the Isis but 
a few hours when at midnight anchor was weighed 
and we left the port only to run immediately into the 
teeth of a gale and consequent high sea. The former 
had been blowing all day so that the Isis, which was a 
small ship about three hundred feet long, was at once 
tossed about like a bottle. How long I had been asleep 
I do not know, but very likely not long after we had 
started, but of a sudden I was awakened a most sea- 
sick laddie. The storm continued about thirty-six 
hours, during which time the Isis slowed down from 
her twenty-two knots speed to eight or ten knots per 
hour. All the passengers were sick, as were also the 
stewards and assistant engineers, though the latter 
must, of course, be on duty, not being disabled as 
were the passengers. The force of the rolling of the 
Isis was so fierce that my trunk at times would be 
under the berth in which I lay, then under the one 
opposite. I made two heroic efforts to overcome my 

ri5i 



DOING OVER. 

feelings of seasickness, dressed and went on deck, but 
each time was driven below and I finally capitulated, 
went to my berth and remained until about noon of 
the following day. The Isis is named after the god- 
dess Isis, adored by the Egyptians as benefactress 
because she is credited with having taught their an- 
cestors the art of cultivating wheat and barley. What 
the goddess had against the passengers aboard that 
she permitted the elements to give us such a distress- 
ing shaking up I can not imagine, unless she discov- 
ered there were four bachelors aboard and wished to 
punish them, or perhaps she may have intended it for 
several married men aboard who did not have their 
wives with them. 

As a result of the storm, which was the worst I 
ever experienced, we arrived at Port Said twelve 
hours late, having taken about sixty-six instead of 
fifty-four hours to make the run of nine hundred and 
thirty-six knots from Brindisi. Our course from the 
latter port, after passing through the Gulf of Ta- 
ranto, was through the Ionian Sea, past the Ionian 
group of islands, thence southeast through the Medi- 
terranean Sea, past the island of Crete or Candia on 
which could be seen the snow capped mountains, 
thence within a hundred miles of Alexandria to Port 
Said. 

The waters of the Mediterranean were of a beau- 
[16] 



DOING OVER. 

tiful blue until about opposite Alexandria, close to 
which the River Nile empties into the Mediterranean, 
and where the water, up until Port Said was reached, 
was a light green, the so-called Nile green. The last 
twenty-four hours of the run was with bright sunshine 
and a becalmed sea, much to the relief of us poor 
sailors aboard. It was six o'clock in the evening of 
January twenty-fourth when Port Said was reached 
where the steamship China was awaiting us. It was 
already dark and as the China was to sail as soon as 
the passengers, mail and baggage could be transferred 
from the Isis, we were allowed to go ashore for a very 
short time, about a half hour, but because of the dark- 
ness little of the city, which is said to have about 
twenty thousand people, could be seen. We were, 
however, on Egyptian soil to that extent. 

At half past eight in the evening we started aboard 
the China for the run of one hundred miles through 
the Suez Canal, the full length of the Red Sea, which, 
with two hundred knots of Gulf of Suez, is one 
thousand three hundred knots long; thence across 
the Arabian Sea, one thousand six hundred and forty 
knots to Bombay. While in the harbor of Port Said 
we saw a Russian man-of-war, one of the few which 
escaped destruction or capture by the Japanese. A 
transport of Russian prisoners also passed out return- 
ing home to Russia. The transport was as full of 
2 [17 1 



DOING OVEE. 

those poor fellows as a lump of sugar could possibly 
be of flies. Many were the hardships those soldiers 
no doubt had to endure, besides the horrors of war- 
fare. Later, in our visit through Japan, we were told 
that many of the Russian prisoners had expressed 
the wish to remain Japanese prisoners in preference 
to going back home to Eussia. 

Of the one hundred miles of Suez Canal, much of 
the distance is through lakes, five or six in all, of 
which Lakes Bahlah, Timsah, Great Bitter and Little 
Bitter are the principal ones. The building of the 
canal was started in 1854, finished in 1869 so that 
vessels could pass through, and in 1872 the tolls re- 
ceived exceeded expenses. The canal proper, aside 
from the lakes, is but about two hundred and fifteen 
feet wide in the straight parts and two hundred and 
fifty feet in the curves, with a depth of twenty feet. 
The work of widening the canal was going on at the 
time of our passage through and where dredges are 
kept at work all the time to keep the proper depth, 
which is encroached upon continually by the sand 
from both sides. Arabia on one side, Africa (Egypt) 
on the other, both sand deserts with occasional villages 
and canal stations along the line, at which points some 
little vegetation and trees are seen. The work along 
the canal is done by Arabs, Egyptians, and others, and 
in their peculiar garb looked very odd as well as pic- 

[181 



DOING OVER. 

turesque. Camels were largely used to carry away the 
sand which was packed on their backs and taken back 
from the canal and dumped. In one or two places 
trams of very small cars were used for the purpose. 
Because of some obstruction we were delayed at one 
point about four hours. Ismailia, on the Egyptian 
side, and once an important city controlled by the 
French, was passed at noon. Ordinarily the trip 
through the canal requires about eighteen hours, a 
six to seven knot speed, the fastest allowed; but be- 
cause of the above stated delay we were twenty-two 
and one-half hours. Accordingly, Suez, also on the 
Egyptian side and located at the southern end of the 
canal, was reached at six o'clock, hence again dark as 
at Port Said. Nothing but occasional lights and out- 
lines of buildings could be seen. Passing Suez, we 
entered the Gulf of Suez, then through the Red Sea. 

One 's belief in biblical history regarding the passage 
of the Red Sea by the Jews in the flight of the latter, 
is given a severe jolt on closer acquaintance with 
the Red Sea's one thousand one hundred miles of 
length, one hundred miles width and its depth. 

The lakes along the Suez Canal, prior to the build- 
ing of the latter, probably connected with the Gulf 
of Suez at high tide and left them separated on the 
ebb tide. During the latter stage the Jews may have 
crossed. At two o'clock in the morning of January 
[19] 



DOING OVER. 

twenty-sixth, while in the Gulf of Suez, our ship ran 
down a dhow (an Arab boat) containing eight men. 
The men were evidently bound for some market, the 
dhow having been loaded with fruit, but as they evi- 
dently were saving oil, thus evading the law requir- 
ing a light on the boat, they paid the penalty in the 
loss of one of their crew. That all were not drowned 
seems nothing short of a miracle; as it was, seven of 
the men were hauled upon our ship and taken to the 
next stop, Aden. The steamer China is five hundred 
feet long, fifty-seven feet beam, with nice broad decks 
and very fair service. The decks are so broad that 
some of the English passengers play cricket upon 
them, spreading a net to keep the ball from going 
overboard. Various deck games were played during 
the nine day voyage to Bombay, such as bag races, 
etc., prizes being given to the winners. Dancing also 
was indulged in by some. Most of the one hundred 
and fifty passengers were English, including several 
titled people. The weather, beginning with Port Said, 
was pretty warm and down the Red Sea the ther- 
mometer reached about eighty degrees. Besides other 
acquaintances made aboard was that of a Mr. Prab- 

hashanker D. P , of Bhavnagar, a city and state 

of the Kathiawar District in the Bombay Presidency, 
presided over by His Highness Rajah Thakur Saheb, 

to whom our newly made friend P is dewan 

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DOING OVER. 

(prime minister). Another acquaintance made was 

that of a young Indian Prince, the Gaekwar of B 

and heir to what is said to be one of the wealthy 
principalities of India. Of the above named person- 
ages more will be said later. Another passenger was 

a Sir John , claimant in a celebrated case before 

the British courts, and a character. Sir John seem- 
ingly spends much of his time in that thrifty agricul- 
tural pursuit "sowing wild oats," using whisky and 
soda as an irrigant, the while industriously distribu- 
ting his thirty thousand pounds a year income. The 
quiet of the smoking room was frequently pierced by 
his squeaky voice calling to the steward for a fresh 
supply of the aforesaid irrigant. 

On the fourth day out from Port Said we passed, 
in the Red Sea, the group of twelve small islands 
known as the twelve apostles. Other islands also 
were passed during the day. 

On the fifth day out, January twenty-sixth, we 
anchored in the harbor of Aden, Arabia, the British 
Gibraltar of the east. The city proper lies back from 
the coast about eight miles and is said to contain a 
very interesting population of forty thousand people. 
Stop was made here to coal, to put off mail, and also 
the seven poor fellows we had run down in the Gulf 
of Suez, who were sent ashore to get back to their 
homes on the Gulf of Suez as best they could. Aden 

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DOING OVER. 

is the extreme southernmost point of Arabia on the 
Gulf of Aden, an arm of the Arabian Sea, and about 
three thousand three hundred miles from Gibraltar, 
thus making it about six thousand five hundred miles 
from New York. The coaling of our ship in the Aden 
harbor was an interesting sight, the work being done 
by Arabs, mainly, who kept up a chattering noise 
throughout, very like that of a horde of monkeys. 

Leaving Aden our course lay almost due east for 
Bombay. Life aboard continued as from the start — 
daily deck walks, deck games, reading, ocean gazing, 
conversation, and possibly a nap in the afternoon. 
Notwithstanding the lack of strenuosity in the daily 
routine, the days seemed to melt away as my enthusi- 
asm over the increasing nearness of India continued 
to grow. The China averaged close to four hundred 
knots each twenty-four hours throughout the run of 
eight days and sixteen hours. Port Said to Bombay, 
pleasant weather having also been ours except for the 
few hot days on the Red Sea. 



22 



CHAPTER III. 

INDIA AND THE BEGINNING OF OUR SIGHT-SEEING. 

February second and Bombay, India, was finally 
reached after twenty-seven days of more or less con- 
tinuous going since our departure from New York. 
With Cairo omitted from our itinerary, India was to 
be the beginning of our sight-seeing. What was in 
store for us in that direction in this oft-called dream- 
land, I could not have previously pictured, regardless 
of what I had read and heard of it. What we saw and 
how it was seen will follow. Bombay has no pier that 
will accommodate any but small boats, hence the 
China anchored out in the bay about a quarter of a 
mile. With our adieus to the China and the ship's 
acquaintances we came ashore at half past two in the 
afternoon, passed through the customs inspection, 
where cigars, liquors, firearms, and wearing apparel, 
were mainly looked for (with a generous allowance 
for wearing apparel), we soon were registered at the 
Taj Mahal Hotel. The latter was crowded, but one 
of our party having slipped out and made a bee line 
for the hotel while the customs inspection was going 
on, secured accommodations for us while others were 
turned away. Travel breeds a certain amount of self- 

[23 1 



DOING OVEE. 

ishness, a sort of justifiable self-interest, as it were, 
and but for which travel would bring with it even 
greater hardships and inconveniences which follow 
at best. The traveler, though not called upon to be 
boorish, must yet look to his or her own comfort, 
hence the need for every one doing likewise, or taking 
what is left. 

In Bombay we were eight thousand one hundred 
and fifty knots from New York and about ten hours 
ahead of New York time. So much for having gone 
steadily toward the rising sun. Standard time had 
but just been adopted by the railways of India the 
day previous, February first, the hours reckoned to 
twenty-four o'clock. The Taj Mahal Hotel, named 
after the world-famed tomb at Agra, is a very cred- 
itable one, the foremost in India and built by a Parsee. 
It fronts on the sea and the Apollo Bunder (an open 
square) . 

Our first meal (dinner) in Bombay was as guests 
of the young Indian Prince, heretofore referred to 
as one of the China's passengers and son of the Prince 

Gaekwar of B , one of India's wealthy Mahara- 

jahs. In addition to the compliment thus paid us, 
it was in the nature of a fortunate coincidence that 
our entry into India should be so closely followed by 
this princely hospitality. Besides our party of four, 
the Prince also had as guests four of his native 

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DOING OVEE. 

friends, nobles. The dinner was served in the Prince 's 
suite in the Taj Mahal Hotel and was princely 
throughout. Three of the nobles were very keen and 
bright, the Prince himself just returning from col- 
lege in England was still too young (about twenty- 
two) to look upon life seriously, though he had a wife 
and baby awaiting him at home. The dinner was ex- 
tended over a good deal of time, interspersed with 
generous flowing of wine, followed by mirth and good 
fellowship. So free did the Prince command the wine 
served that he might have been charged with the de- 
sire to test the staying qualities of his American 
guests. 

That all India is not happy under present rule is 
an open secret as developed to us on several occasions 
throughout the trip. 

After dinner, still as the guests of the Prince, we 
were shown Bombay by gas, electric and lamp light. 
On the next evening, February third, our party had 
the Prince and his friends as guests at dinner, also 
at the Taj Mahal, and though the dinner hour had 
been set for seven o'clock His Highness had been de- 
layed visiting Bombay friends after his long absence 
in England, hence he kept us waiting until eight, 

and as he was to start at nine for his home in B , 

the dinner, of necessity, was of short duration. 

During the day of the third, the Prince placed an 
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DOING OVEE. 

automobile at our disposal, and later his party and 
ours sat for a group photograph. 

The Elephanta caves, on an island six miles from 
Bombay, is one of the sights of 'interest. These 
caves cut in solid rock and said to be about one thou- 
sand one hundred years old, of Hindu origin, once 
had many figures of the gods cut from solid granite. 
The whole is now in almost complete ruin and many 
of the figures adorn museums the world over. The 
Parsee Tower of Silence, where the Parsee dead are 
placed to be devoured by vultures, is a gruesome 
thought. No one is allowed to see inside the tower, 
hence one can only think of the proceeding as grue- 
some. A miniature model of the interior of the tower 
was shown us and indicating two additional walls in- 
side the outer one. Between the outer and second wall 
are placed the bodies of the male adults, the bodies 
of adult females being placed between the next two 
walls, while the children are placed between the inner 
walls. Inside, the plan of the building resembles a 
circular gridiron gradually depressed toward the cen- 
tre in which is a well five feet in diameter. The bodies, 
perfectly naked, are placed in the grooves between 
the walls and in half an hour the flesh is so completely 
devoured by the numerous vultures that inhabit the 
adjoining trees that nothing remains but the skeletons. 
These vultures can be seen in the trees waiting for 

[26] 



DOING OVER. 

the next Parsee. The bones are then left to bleach in 
the sun and wind until perfectly dry, when they are 
cast into the well below where they soon crumble into 
dust. Rain water or other moisture is allowed to es- 
cape into deep drains at the bottom of the well where 
the fluid passes through charcoal and becomes disin- 
fected and inodorous before it passes into the sea, the 
outlet to the well. The dust in the well is said to ac- 
cumulate so slowly that in forty years it has risen but 
five feet. This method of interment originates from 
the veneration of the Parsees for the elements and 
their anxiety not to pollute them. Fire is too highly 
regarded for them to allow it to be polluted by burn- 
ing the dead. Water is almost equally respected, and 
so is earth ; hence this singular mode of interment has 
been devised. Another reason given for the above 
method is that as rich and poor must meet in death, 
the bodies of both are disposed of in this manner. 
The mourners do not enter the Tower of Silence but 
retire to the prayer house close by. The grounds are 
tastefully arranged, with beautiful flowers, flowering 
shrubs and trees of luxuriant foliage. Under the lat- 
ter, relatives of the deceased may sit in meditation. 

In great contrast with the above method of dis- 
posing of the dead are the burning ghats of the 
Hindus. These inspire thoughts of sadness, perhaps, 
in that the ceremony apparently has little of ceremony 

[27 1 



DOING OVER. 

connected with it. Only the male relatives are pres- 
ent and these move around the funeral pyre a few 
times and when all is ready are said to recite some 
prayers, then with torches for the purpose light the 
fire which is to consume the dead. The funeral pyre 
consists of logs about the length of a body, piled about 
three feet high upon which the body is placed, 
wrapped in a white sheet. On top of the body is 
piled enough more of wood to cover it, then all is 
ready for the torch. There are said to be a number 
of these burning ghats in Bombay and at the one we 
visited there are said to be from sixty to seventy 
bodies cremated daily. Four of them were being 
burned at the time of our visit; one a woman, who 
had been dead but three hours, was just being placed 
in position. Later in our visit to Benares we saw 
more of these burning ghats, and it does seem the 
whole proceeding is too much like the burning of 
some unloved thing rather than a human. In addi- 
tion, it is a heavy drain upon India's limited wood 
supply. 

Bombay is on an island separated from the main- 
land by only a narrow stream less than a mile at the 
widest point. The city is claimed to have more than 
nine hundred thousand people, largely natives, of 
course, with the Parsees as the bankers, brokers, finan- 
ciers and wealthiest citizens. The Parsees, known as 

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DOING OVER. 

the fire worshipers, came from Persia, from whence, 
centuries ago, they had been driven by the Persians. 
Bombay has many very creditable public buildings, — - 
the railway station for a long time being claimed the 
finest in the world. Bombay's specialty in manu- 
factures is cotton, goods, and it is said to have about 
a hundred mills turning out that product. The native 
part of the city swarms with people, everybody seem- 
ingly moving hither and thither as though living in 
the narrow streets. Innumerable tenement houses are 
grouped closely together, which, with the filth of the 
natives, are plague breeders. It is said that the city 
is never without the plague, which during the summer 
months carries off as many as one thousand victims 
each week. 

Our first taste of India created in me an almost 
impatient desire to see more of it, as we surely did 
during the following six weeks. Bombay has, besides 
many other Christian churches, twenty-eight belong- 
ing to Roman Catholics, with thirty-five thousand 
communicants, principally natives. In one of these 
where I attended service, of all the congregation pres- 
ent, so far as I could see, there were but four or five 
foreigners. The sermon, however, was delivered in 
English, indicating, apparently, that the natives all 
understood it. The city is full of crows which are 
seen on all sides, in the streets and trees. Their caw- 

[29 1 



DOING OVEE. 

ing is a never ceasing sound which greets the ears of 
the newcomer. They are so numerous and tame that 
they are found in one's path not infrequently. Later 
I found the same condition, more or less, all through 
India, Burma and Ceylon. 

The fact that the women do much of the hard 
work in India was seen in Bombay, where they are 
employed even in house building, principally to carry 
mortar and brick, or in excavating they carry out the 
dirt. However, men and women looked husky and 
appeared happily unconscious of their poverty which 
necessitates such drudgery and hard work. 

At the Arabian horse market were seen great num- 
bers of these animals, though they did not, as a 
whole, look finer than a stable of high class horses at 
home. They did not appear to me as I had always 
pictured them from previous impressions. That they 
were thoroughbreds, however, and that my expressed 
comparison above refers to our thoroughbreds, goes 
without sajdng. 

The market for fruits, vegetables, and various other 
things was attractive, mainly because of the appar- 
ent indifference to filth of the shoppers and sellers. 
Monkeys, various kinds of small animals, and varie- 
ties of birds, were also on sale. More might well be 
said of Bombay, but I have referred in the main to 
those features which I best recall. The weather, which 

[30] 



DOING OVER. 

we were led to believe might be unbearably hot, was 
as yet very pleasant, with a hot sun during the day, 
but cool nights. 

On February sixth, one of our party left us at 
Bombay, continuing his voyage around the world 
without us. His time for the tour having been lim- 
ited, he was to see some of the port cities only in his 
course. 

One of the several necessary requisites for travel 
in India, besides a guide book, is a guide (there called 
servant), to act as interpreter, and look after the lug- 
gage. We secured one of these fellows, a Goa boy 
named Sam. Sam was about fifty, claimed to have a 
servant record of about twenty years, and he was, be- 
sides, a character. The traveler here is required to 
carry bedding, if he or she expects to sleep on bedding. 
The latter consists of not less than two razais (quilts), 
sheets, a pillow, pillow slips, and mosquito netting. 
In addition a tiffin (lunch) basket, in which we car- 
ried a small ice cooler, a supply of canned goods, bis- 
cuits (crackers), and jam, all of which proved handy 
things to have. Each of our party had, besides his 
bedding, a suit case and a kind of carry-all bag. Thus 
with the tiffin basket and Sam 's two pieces, we had in 
all twelve pieces of luggage. As we did not wish to 
be hampered with trunks through India, these were 
shipped down to Colombo, Ceylon, where we expected 

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DOING OVER. 

to and did overtake them six weeks later. We had 
also invested in a supply of white duck linen suits 
besides a topi (so-called helmet hat), the latter nec- 
essary against the hot sun, which in India is said to 
be especially dangerous. 

We were now ready to plunge deeper into India 
to cope with its claimed mysteries and surprises, and 
its pictured unavoidable jungles of wild beasts and 
cobras. I expected to experience new sensations and 
meet with surprises as we proceeded and I was not 
disappointed throughout those six weeks in India. 

On the afternoon of February sixth, at three 
o'clock, we boarded a train for a one hundred and 
nineteen mile run south to Poona, and our first ex- 
perience on an India railway train was not disappoint- 
ing, unless agreeably so, for the compartment which 
our party occupied was not at all bad and the train 
made an average speed of about thirty-two miles an 
hour. It was one of the best trains throughout our 
travels in India and we had few such thereafter, but 
many much worse ones as to discomfort and slowness 
of running time. 

Poona, which we reached early in the evening, is 
a city of one hundred and sixty thousand people, im- 
portant mainly from a military point of view, a great 
many soldiers being stationed there, as it is head- 
quarters of the Bombay army. The place is selected 

[32 1 



DOING OVER. 

as a military headquarters because of the tempera- 
ture and climate^ which are said to be healthful. 
There is nothing of special interest for the tourist, 
though the latter, when visiting here, is urged to 
climb a high hill to see the Hindu temple of Parbati, 
wife of Shiva, the sun god. The temple is in a fair 
state of preservation and from a window at one corner 
of the enclosing wall, the builder, about the year 1750, 
watched the destruction of his army on the field below. 
Poona has a very poor and dilapidated hotel. In addi- 
tion to the doors to the bed rooms there were short 
screen doors intended to be used on hot nights, letting 
in the air and whatever crawling thing might come 
along. My interest in this screen arrangement was 
centered in the cheap paintings on the outside, for on 
one of them was painted some California landscape 
scenery while on another was painted the old Norse- 
man Tower, or mill relic, at Newport, R. I. An excit- 
ing time took place at the hotel early in the evening 
over the disappearance of my topi from the parlor 
where it had been placed, and from which it had been 
taken during my absence of only a few minutes. Re- 
porting my loss to the manager, he expressed great 
surprise, assuring me at the same time that nothing 
of the kind had ever happened in his hotel previously. 
Cutting short his explanations I gave him fifteen min- 
utes to produce my topi or give me its equivalent in 
3 r 33 1 



DOING OVER. 

money, or I would call in the police. This threat 
greatly excited our host, who asked me to accompany 
him up into the city somewhere to find the secretary 
of the company. Told that I had no interest in look- 
ing up that individual, the manager disappeared, 
reappearing shortly with a policeman. Meanwhile, 
without having asked me regarding the trouble, our 
servant Sam had been busy scurrying around seem- 
ingly excited over something and finally appearing 
upon the scene reported to me he knew who had taken 
my **sun bonnet." The man was produced but was 
too intoxicated to know what was expected of him. 
Sam finally led me to one of the numerous outbuild- 
ings where, below a lot of rubbish, lay my new topi 
and the excitement was over. Sam was a Sherlock 
Holmes or a party to the theft, which is not unlikely 
as developed from later experience. His object in 
this instance, if a party to the theft, was probably 
two-fold — to show us how he would look out for us, 
or for the reward which he felt sure would come to 
him in the shape of a rupee for finding the topi. 
Needless to say the reward was given him. 

The country around Poona, as the result of irri- 
gation, grows vegetables in abundance, which are sold 
very cheap. One of our party, immensely fond of 
onions, was almost overwhelmed with them on paying 
a woman three annas (six cents) for some. Having 

[34 1 



DOING OVER. 

finished sight-seeing here, nothing remained for us 
now but to kill time as best we could until half past 
two the next morning, February eighth, when we went 
aboard train for Bijapur, one hundred and thirty-one 
miles, via Hotge Junction, where we changed cars, 
arriving at our destination at half past twelve in the 
afternoon. That was fast travel, about ten hours, or 
an average of thirteen miles an hour. We had now 
experienced our first night on a sleeper in India as 
well as made use of our bedding for first time, a novel 
experience. Indian railways have first-, second- and 
third-class coaches, the former two being in the Euro- 
pean compartment style. Besides the long seats, there 
were overhanging upper berths, which are raised out 
of the way during the day but let down at night, upon 
which and the seats below our bedding was spread by 
Sam. On all of our night rides through India the 
same arrangements prevailed. We found the railway 
employes throughout India very courteous and at 
Hotge Junction, where we changed cars for Bijapur 
and had breakfast at the railway station, the con- 
ductor held the train while we finished the meal 
leisurely, as he suggested. 

Bijapur, once a populous Hindu city of nearly a 
million people, was almost entirely destroyed by the 
Mohammedans and now has a population of about 
twenty-five thousand. The ruins of temples and pal- 

[35 1 



DOING OVER. 

aces are seen scattered for miles, giving the appear- 
ance of another Pompeii. The wall, about six miles 
around, is also badly damaged. The city is in the 
Dekkan, a plateau district of India, and is said to be 
the cotton growing territory. There is no hotel in 
Bijapur, hence we had our first experience in a dak 
bungalow (or traveler's inn), where the accommoda- 
tions were very poor. Some rickety old bedsteads, 
with old thin mattresses upon which we spread our 
bedding, and as the natives in charge were not pre- 
pared with eatables, we now made first use of the con- 
tents of our tiflin basket. The sun was hot and the 
streets very dusty. Many very attractive buildings, 
well preserved, mainly Mohammedan mosques, and 
tombs, are in the* place. The Gol Gumbaz, or Round 
Dome Mausoleum, has a wonderful dome. The mauso- 
leum is built on a platform six hundred feet square 
and two feet high. In front is a great gateway, 
ninety-four by eighty-eight feet, with a music gallery 
(Nakkar Khana) above. The building is square, one 
Iiundred and ninety-six feet exterior, and at each 
corner is a tower seven stories high. In the centre is 
the great dome, one hundred and twenty-four feet in 
diameter, and compares in extent with that of St. 
Peter's in Rome which is one hundred and thirty- 
nine feet. The surface of the building, like most of 
them in Bijapur, is covered with plaster. The great 

[36] 



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hall, one hundred and thirty-five feet square, over 
which the dome is raised, is said to be the largest 
domed space in the world. From the corner towers 
there is an entrance to a broad gallery away up in 
the dome which is so wide that a carriage might pass 
around it. The slightest noise or sound in any part 
of the gallery can be distinctly heard on the opposite 
side. Internally the dome is one hundred and seventy- 
five feet high. Other beautiful buildings are the 
mosque and tomb, known as the Two Sisters, the 
Ibrahim Rosa, tomb of Ibrahim II., Adil Sha, his 
Queen, Taj Sultana and four other members of his 
family, said to be of Persian architecture, is one of 
.the most beautiful in Bijapur. There are many more 
attractive mosques and tombs in the city. The city 
has a generous and well regulated water supply de- 
rived from springs three and five miles distant. One 
of the gates to the city, called the Shapur Gate, is 
full of immense spikes protruding on the outside and 
intended as protection against elephants that used to 
be utilized for battering gates when cities were being 
attacked by outside foes. The visit to Bijapur was 
full of interest, though accompanied by discomforts. 
We were early experiencing the disadvantages and 
hardships of travel in India, many of which were still 
in store for us, especially when away from the regu- 
larly traveled routes. 

[37] 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOME TflRILLING EXPERIENCES IN OUT OF WAY PLACES. 

The visit in Bijapur ended, we boarded train at 
noon on February ninth for Hampi via Hospit, one 
hundred and sixty-eight miles further south, arriving 
at the latter place at midnight. More or less, all 
through the six weeks in India, we arrived at or de- 
parted from places at the uncanny hours between 
midnight and two or three o'clock in the morning. 
Outside the few larger cities, there are few or no 
hotels in India, but the British government, whose 
subjects are traveling the country all the time, has 
seen to it that there is a place for the traveler to sleep 
under roof. In consequence, the railway stations have 
a few cots and in addition most of the smaller cities 
have a bungalow with a few cots or beddingless beds 
in charge of a native. Should more travelers com'e 
along than can be accommodated, those coming late 
may still sleep under a roof by spreading their bed- 
ding upon the floor. At Hospit, where we were to put 
up for the night (Hampi, the objective point of this 
visit, being nine miles away from the railway station), 
we promptly looked up the station master whom we 
had previously telegraphed for sleeping quarters in 

[38] 



DOING OVER. 

the station or bungalow, as the case might be. Ap- 
proaching what we took to be the station master and 
inquiring as to our sleeping quarters we were told 
to go to the bungalow ; asking as to where the bunga- 
low was he said about a mile out from the station, to 
reach which, we could take tongas (a native vehicle 
which one must see to appreciate). It was past mid- 
night, but there seemed no alternative, hence five 
tongas were engaged, one each for our party, includ- 
ing the servant and one for the luggage. A tonga is 
not long enough for one to lie down, besides the driver 
sits in the front end ; then the bamboo top is not high 
enough to permit sitting up comfortably, and as we 
were required to sit or recline on the bare floor or bed 
(except for a little straw) of this remarkable vehicle, 
here was a prospect. A full moon and the clearest of 
skies was the one comforting feature as our caravan 
started from the station. The tongas^ being drawn by 
great rawboned bullocks, it is needless to say that 
distance was not conquered with any great speed, in 
fact progress was slow, very slow. Scattered along 
the road as we were, conversation was out of the ques- 
tion and unable to talk Hindustani we could expect 
no entertainment from the driver. Thus we moved 
along, just moved, my own thoughts alternately back 
home, then absorbed in the surroundings. We not 
only were in a strange land, but in a short while after 

[39] 



DOING OVER. 

the start were beyond the town limits going further 
into the rural districts, and where, after going thusly 
for what seemed the longest time, and when each 
seemed to feel we had gone beyond the mile claimed as 
the distance to the bungalow, we began signaling one 
another and the caravan was brought to a halt. Sam 
(our servant) was commanded to ask the drivers how 
much farther it was to the bungalow, to which answer 
came that the bungalow was still further out. That 
was information; though we had gone beyond a mile 
without doubt, nothing seemed left us but to get 
aboard again and continue the journey. Thus we con- 
tinued, the bullocks plodding along in the same slow 
steady gait, the quiet of the surroundings beginning 
to produce feelings not in keeping with the bright 
moonlit night. Due to the dry, clear atmosphere the 
moon in India seems closer to the earth than it ever 
appeared to me elsewhere, and seemingly was just 
beyond reach, so to speak. After we had again con- 
tinued thusly for what seemed an interminable time, 
there was again that simultaneous signaling from 
each of our party and another halt was made for a 
second consultation. We had but just begun to ques- 
tion the drivers, through Sam, as to where we were 
being taken when two native guards came up, and 
demanded to know our destination and business. Told 
of our purpose to reach a bungalow somewhere this 

[40] 



DOING OVER. 

side of the moon, we were commanded to at once turn 
back and return to the station. The further infor- 
mation was volunteered that we had already come 
beyond the danger line, that we were liable at any mo- 
ment to have been waylaid by highwaymen. With 
this information in a strange land, wild surroundings 
and unarmed, we stood not upon our dignity but 
promptly turned about face, retraced our steps toward 
the town and railway station. It might be added that 
the retreat was not only a willing one but orderly as 
well. It was past two o 'clock in the morning when we 
arrived at the station, where another search was 
promptly made for the station master. We had thus 
been about two hours going out and returning from 
the above moonlight drive. Locating the station mas- 
ter, the real one this time, it developed he had in- 
tended all the time we should sleep in the railway sta- 
tion, and that he had expected us when the train ar- 
rived. Who the party was who sent us out upon our 
arrival, on the reckless journey, we could not learn, 
except that he was not the station master. That the 
party was aware of our coming was apparent from 
his actions when we left the train and from the fact 
of the tongas being in waiting at that hour (mid- 
night) of night. What the purpose of the fellow was 
can only be guessed and what might have happened 
had the native guards not turned us back may also 

[41] 



DOING OVER. 

come within the scope of guessing. As it was, Sam 
soon had our bedding covered over the only three cots 
in the station and three very tired and sleepy travelers 
were soon tightly clasped in the embrace of Morpheus. 
Not many hours were left us for sleep on this night, 
however, for with the sunrise about six o'clock we 
were again up, aiming at an early breakfast and start 
for the nine miles journey to Hampi. For the latter 
tongas were again brought into service, only they were 
now drawn by very lean ponies instead of bullocks. 
Hospit being in the plague stricken district, we were 
required before coming here to procure passports, 
which, having been shown the proper party, we pro- 
ceeded toward Hampi. The sun and air were already 
hot, the roads dusty and the tongas even more uncom- 
fortable than on the night before, because of the 
weather conditions. The roadway ran along the edge 
of a jungle, with here and there a small village or 
peasant's hut. At about ten o'clock we reached the 
outskirts of Hampi, where we alighted, glad of the 
opportunity. 

Hampi, built between rocky hills, was once a verj'' 
populous Hindu city, containing about nine hundred 
and ninety temples, with palaces proportionately. Of 
its former glory, there now remains intact but a sin- 
gle building, a temple, the remainder of the city hav- 
ing been destroyed by the Mohammedans in the six- 

[42 1 



DOING OVER. 

teenth century. In addition to the one temple, there 
are several gods cut from solid granite, the one Nar- 
singh Avatar, a colossal lion-headed image, with enor- 
mous projecting eyes and huge mouth; a carving of 
the Nesh Nag (a combination of seven cobras) forms 
the canopy of the idol, all in one piece of granite 
about twenty-two feet high. Another idol, that of 
Ganesh (a figure with an elephant's head), the god 
of intelligence, is eighteen feet high. Both of the 
above images show signs of a Mohammedan effort at 
destruction but are not greatly injured, the images 
apparently having been too massive to be much dam- 
aged. What is said to be the largest juggernaut 
in India, also, is seen here. We finally reached 
the great temple of Hampi, above referred to, and 
which is sacred to the god Shiva. The gopura, at 
the north entrance, is gigantic, being one hundred 
and sixty-five feet high, built up eleven stories and 
accessible, above which are said to be thirty feet of 
solid masonry, the whole being very picturesque and 
supposed to be the largest gopura in India. A go- 
pura is a gateway or entrance to the outer enclosure 
to Hindu temples, the latter being located inside a 
second or inner enclosure. The quadrangle or 
space between the first and second enclosures of 
the Hampi temple is two hundred and eight by one 
hundred and thirty-four feet. In this space were a 

[43] 



DOING OVER. 

number of monkeys, which, though tame perhaps, 
shied at the approach of our party. None other than 
Brahmans (the highest cast Hindu) are allowed inside 
the second enclosure where the temple is, because 
regarded a desecration by the Brahmans. One of our 
party, over-anxious to photograph the temple, went a 
few paces only inside the enclosure against the re- 
monstrances of those inside. The result was that 
for a time it looked as though we were going to have 
trouble on our hands, for while the persistent kodakist 
was busy putting a new cartridge of film into his 
kodak, and the rest of us were looking on, several of 
the Hindus had closed the immense gate through 
which we had come into the quadrangle, while another 
was hurrying toward the gate with an immense lock, 
the intention being, apparently, to lock us in. Fortu- 
nately one of our party happened to discover what was 
going on and in quick succession we were all running 
for the gate, and reaching it before the man with the 
lock had arrived. With vigorous use of elbows the 
first two of our party to arrive had forced the Brah- 
mans from the gate and by main force opened it suf- 
ficiently to let us pass out. A howl went up from the 
Brahmans, but we were out and lost no time in getting 
away. But for the fact that there were only about 
half a dozen of the Hindus, it might have gone hard 
with us, a young boy of about sixteen seeming to be 

r441 



DOING OVEE. 

the most worked up of the group. Having now seen 
the principal attractions of the place, but few other 
buildings having any semblance of shape left them, 
we made for the place where we had left the tongas. 
When we had succeeded in getting the drivers (who 
seemed in an ugly mood for some reason) to hitch the 
ponies to the tongas, we started for the dak bungalow 
two miles away, where we opened the tiffin basket to 
feast on our supply of canned provisions. After we 
had finished and while resting before making start 
back for Hospit in the excessive heat of the day, we 
were startled by the sound of weird tom-tom music 
up the road. Looking in that direction we could see 
through the trees a procession of natives coming down. 
What it all meant we could not, of course, define, but 
when the procession finally turned into the grounds of 
the bungalow thoughts of the incident at the temple 
crept into my vision. Slowly they came toward the 
bungalow and soon we could see in the procession, on 
top of a wagon, what looked like some wild beast. The 
weird strains of the never ceasing tom-toms grew 
louder as the crowd drew nearer. Of a sudden it 
developed that the wild beast on the wagon was a 
leopard, and finally, when all had come close to where 
we were, the leopard was seen to be a dead one, the 
natives having propped it up in a standing posture to 
give it the appearance of being alive. We were told 

[45] 



DOING OVER. 

the animal had been killed early that morning on 
the edge of a jungle, not a great distance away. The 
native who had killed the beast was the hero of the 
occasion, and with an old gun of some kind over his 
shoulder, was, with apparent pride and satisfaction, 
pointed out as the slayer. All thought of danger to 
us, if any such thought had been serious, was soon 
dispelled, especially when it developed that the pro- 
cession had come to the bungalow with the leopard 
hoping the foreigners would give a liberal baksheesh 
(tip) for a sight of the beast. The expected donation 
being given, the procession proceeded on its way, the 
tom-toming beginning afresh and could be heard until 
overcome by distance. 

Soon thereafter our party started back for Hos- 
pit, where we arrived at five o'clock, tired, dusty and 
thirsty, as well as hungry. We must now wait until 
after midnight for the next train, and as the place 
had nothing of especial interest to recommend it, the 
interval was dull in the extreme. 

But few tourists ever visit this out of the way 
place of interest because few would care to make the 
hard trip necessary and because few people know of 
the place. Of those resident foreigners and natives to 
whom we had spoken of our visit to Hampi not one 
had ever heard of it. This was not so strange after 
all, perhaps, because the place is not upon any map 

[46] 



DOING OVEE. 

of India that I saw, and then, too, it is so far from the 
beaten paths of travel it probably is seldom or never 
referred to. "We are indebted to the postmaster- 
general of India for our knowledge of Hampi. To 
the same gentleman we are also indebted for informa- 
tion regarding most of the numerous out of the way 
places which we visited in India. The postmaster- 
general had been a fellow passenger on board the 
China to Bombay, to which place and India he was 
returning from a visit home (England). 

Britain pensions, after twenty-five years of serv- 
ice, its employes of the civil service. These are scat- 
tered all through India, some of them in out of the 
way places, far from cities, and where they are sur- 
rounded by nothing but the natives, poverty and lone- 
liness. Also on board the China was a young English- 
man bound for his post in the interior, where he in- 
vited our party to pay him a visit. He, too, was re- 
turning after a short visit home to England. This 
young man had been in the service only five years, 
but was already looking forward to the expiration of 
his twenty-five years' service and the pension. An- 
other Englishman was returning to India who had but 
five years more of service between him and the looked- 
forward-to pension. His was a pathetic case, for as 
he had been separated from his wife and children he 
had gone home after a five years' absence to visit 

[471 



DOING OVER. 

them only to learn upon arriving there that his wife 
had died while he was on his way home. Few of the 
married men in the India service have their families 
with them after a few years of marriage, since the cli- 
mate of India is unfit for either the wife or the chil- 
dren. The family in consequence meet but once in 
three or four or five years, depending upon the man 's 
position in the service and ability to get home. Can 
any one wonder that the poor fellows look forward 
to the pension period? And how must the wife and 
children look forward to the time? To the credit of 
England be it said, that the pay of those in the India 
service is said to be higher than is paid government 
officials by any other country. 

Hospit has an exclusive native population num- 
bering about thirty-five thousand and is the nearest 
railway point to Hampi. Thus ended, what was, in 
a way, one of the most eventful visits of our tour of 
the world. Hospit is four hundred and thirty miles 
southeast of Bombay, but to return to the latter place 
by the quickest route we boarded train after midnight 
for a point further southeast, called Gundakel, where 
we changed to the Madras mail train for the thirty-six 
hours' run of five hundred and eighteen miles back 
to Bombay. The trip was without incident and we 
began to get more or less used to Indian railway 
travel. Meals along the route were taken at railway 

[48 1 



DOING OVER. 

stations and too much time was not allowed, so that 
our meals were more like lunch counter feeds. For 
companions in our compartment, were two English- 
men who were hard to draw into conversation. 

Hampi had been well worth the tiresome trip, if 
for no other reason than for the several more or less 
thrilling experiences above narrated. Except for its 
manner of destruction the place, in a way, is indeed 
another Pompeii. 



49 



CHAPTER V. 

WE ENJOY THE HOSPITALITY OF A RAJAH. — A VISIT TO 
MT. ABU. 

The twelfth of February and back again in Bom- 
bay, where final arrangements were made for the trip 
north. On the evening of the thirteenth, at half -past 
nine, we left Bombay for Bhavnagar via Broach, one 
hundred and seventeen miles north. The latter city, 
on the Gulf of Cambay, was reached at four o'clock 

next morning, where we were met by Mr. B , Port 

Officer of Bhavnagar and who was in charge of the 
state barge of His Highness the Rajah Thakur Saheb, 
whose guests, and especially that of his dewan, P. D. 

P , we were to be — the latter heretofore referred 

to as having been met on the voyage, from Brindisi 

to Port Said and Bombay. Mr. P , a high class 

Brahman, a scholar and gentleman, had urged the 
acceptance of his invitation to visit his home city, 
Bhavnagar. On board the state barge, we started at 
five o'clock in the morning on the one hundred and 
fifteen mile trip across the Gulf of Cambay, our meals 
being prepared upon a stove on the open deck of the 
barge. The Gulf of Cambay is a very shallow, as 

[501 



DOING OVER. 

well as muddy, body of water, an arm of the Arabian 
Sea. 

We arrived at Bhavnagar early in the afternoon, 
where we were met at the dock by Mr. P 's secre- 
tary, and in one of the state carriages driven to a 
large bungalow, which was turned over to us, with 
a full quota of servants in attendance. 

The city has no hotel but several bungalows belong- 
ing to the Eajah. Our intended visit here of one day 
was extended into four by our friend the dewan 
(prime minister). Everything of supposed interest 
in the city, which has fifty thousand people, was 
shown us, besides every attention possible. More than 
ample time was taken and the state carriage was sent 
to the bungalow regularly at about ten o'clock in the 
morning and three o'clock in the afternoon for sev- 
eral hours' visit to the city's attractions. The latter 
might well have been seen in a day, but P evi- 
dently intended prolonging our visit. 

The most interesting of the sights seen were the 
schools, in which about three thousand pupils were 
registered, including five hundred and thirty girls. 
The education of the latter is not generally much 
troubled with in India. For our benefit a drill and 
May pole exercise and native dance was given by the 
girl pupils. Our friend, the dewan, is a liberal and 
progressive Brahman, hence the number of girl pupils 

[511 



DOING OVER. 

at school. We were shown besides the hospitals (where 
free treatment and medicines were given), the parks, 
the library, cotton mill and also taken out where an 
effort was being made to bore for water. The latter 
work was in charge of a Japanese, the boring being 
done in a very primitive manner. A large wheel, used 
to pull up the drills, was worked by men in the same 
manner, more or less, as a tread mill might be op- 
erated, except that the men walked around on the 
inside of the wheel. As a result of our visit to the 
well boring, I put the dewan in communication with 
a friend in America for possible suggestions as to how 
the boring might be improved upon. On the fourth 
and last day of our visit, we were presented to His 
Highness the Rajah, who had been away panther 
hunting of which he is very fond. He was a plain 
personage and not much of a talker. He received us 
at the door of his palace and ushered us into the re- 
ception room; our stay, however, was of short dura- 
tion. 

In recognition of the dewan' s hospitality, we had, 
before leaving Bombay, purchased for his little son, a 
lad of about ten years, a bracelet watch and which 
we presented the little fellow, at the same time hand- 
ing his f ather^ the following letter : 

"To Mr. P. D. P , Bhavnagar. Dear Mr. 

P : As an expression of appreciation for the gen- 

[52] 




% n* 



15; 

0> 



$4 



'% If 






:«* f.!-- . .A^^A 





TOWER OF FAME, CHITORGARH, 



DOING OVER. 

erous entertainment and hospitality extended us while 
your guests in Bhavnagar, we beg that you will ac- 
cept, for your son, this bracelet watch, which how- 
ever, it is needless to say, but faintly conveys our feel- 
ings for the pleasure and privilege we have enjoyed 
during our visit to your very interesting city. 

"It was our desire to have left with your son some 
token purely American and more nearly adequate 
to the compliment paid us in your invitation to visit 
your city. Unable, however, to find something more 
fitting we do yet feel assured that what we have se- 
lected will be cherished not for its slight intrinsic 
value, but because of the sentiment it is intended to 
convey. 

''Finally, then, we beg you will accept this expres- 
sion of assurance that our visit to Bhavnagar has 
added greatly to the pleasure which we anticipate in 
this visit through your country, and believe us, 
"Yours very sincerely, 



"At Panmadi Bungalow, 

"Bhavnagar, February 17, 1906." 
An amusing incident of our visit to Bhavnagar 
occurred during one of our strolls through the streets. 

[531 



DOING OVER. 

In the center of one of the latter (a broad one) down 
about thirty feet below the street level and surrounded 
by a wall about four feet high above the street, is a 
pool of water where the women gather to wash clothes. 
These women, or many of them, were all but naked, 
the wall above the tank being built no doubt to shield 
them from the easy scrutiny of passersby. Our party 
came strolling down the street and curious to know 
what was inside the stone wall, we looked over it down 
at the busy women. One of the latter happening to 
see us gave the signal when there was a hurried gath- 
ering of the light drapery (which had been turned 
down around their loins to make work easier) and 
pulled up to cover their naked breasts. It was amus- 
ing until a native policeman came along and advised 
us it was forbidden to look at the washerwomen at 
work. 

On the evening of the fourth day we boarded train 
(still as guests of the Rajah, for about seventy-five 
miles of local road in which His Highness is inter- 
ested and at the end of which we struck the main 

line) with our friend, Mr. P , and his secretary to 

see us off. They had brought with them wreaths of 
flowers which they placed over our shoulders, the 
wreath hanging well down before us. This final at- 
tention was to be considered a further compliment, 
though unfortunately not as fully understood by our 

[54] 



DOING OVER. 

party at the time as would have been later in our trip 
through India. 

Our destination when leaving Bhavnagar on the 
evening of February seventeenth was Ahmadabad, a 
city of one hundred and eighty-six thousand people 
and three hundred and ten miles north of Bombay. 
We airived at Ahmadabad on the morning of the 
eighteeath, seventeen hours to come about one hun- 
dred ani seventy-five miles, during which we changed 
cars at "^iramgam early in the morning and had time 
enough :o breakfast. While we came from Bhavna- 
gar vith pleasantest recollections of the visit, we at 
the sime time felt we had been detained longer than 
necessiry with so much before us to see. In conse- 
quenc(, we were now impatient to go ahead and which 
from tiis forward was supposed to be progress with- 
out inerruption, except the necessary time to thor- 
oughlysee interesting objects. 

Ahnadabad, a city of beautiful buildings, ranking 
next toDelhi and Agra for beauty and extent of its 
archite(tural renown, is located on the Sabarmati 
River aid surrounded by the remains of an old wall, 
the lattr pierced with twelve gateways. The city was 
once th greatest in western India and said to have 
been, ii the sixteenth century, the handsomest in 
Hindustn, perhaps in the world, having been founded 
in 1411 >y Sultan Ahmad I. It is said to have passed 
[55] 



DOING OVER. 

through two periods of greatness, two of decay and 
one of revival, and is now a thrifty city, supplied with 
filtered water obtained from wells sunk in the bed of 
the river. The architecture of its buildings is a com- 
bination of Hindu and Mohammedan; many oi the 
houses have fronts beautifully carved in wood, i spe- 
cialty of the place. The Jama Masjid (prhcipal 
mosque) , though not remarkable for size, is said to be 
one of the most beautiful in the east. The ro3f, sup- 
ported by two hundred and sixty columns, has fifteen 
cupolas with galleries around the three in frouu. Other 
attractive buildings are the Tomb of Ahmad Shah, 
the Tombs of his Queens, Rani Seprees' Mosqu« and 
Tomb and many others besides Sidi Saids M(Sque; 
the latter has two window screens of stone, witl deli- 
cate tracery of trees and branches beautifully wDUght. 
Commercially, the city is noted for its manulicture 
of jewelry, brass, copper, black wood carving stone 
masonry, lacquer workers, ivory carvers, and cirpets. 
One of the most attractive and interesting featires of 
the city is the Baolis or wells, one of whicJ has a 
domed portico supported by twelve pillars, whph give 
entrance to three tiers of finely constructed ^lleries 
below ground, and lead to an octagonal wej about 
forty feet below the surface of the street. Maole and 
a dull reddish gray stone is used in the buil(^ngs of 
Ahmadabad. We spent a busy day here i sight- 

[56] 



DOING OVER. 

seeing, with a bright but very hot sun to add to the 
attractiveness of the views. The city swarms with 
dirty people and naked children. In the evening we 
were aboard train for the one hundred and fifteen 
mile run to Abu Koad station, a village from which 
we were to visit Mt. Abu, sixteen miles away and 
located up in the mountains. We arrived at Abu Eoad 
at eleven o'clock and slept in the railway station, our 
bedding being spread upon the cots as on previous 
occasions. The next morning, in a four seated native 
vehicle, we started for Mt. Abu and from which point 
we had our first ride in jinrikishas, a distance of two 
miles to the two Dilwarra Temples which we had 
come to see. Mount Abu is headquarters of the Raj- 
putana administration, notwithstanding its situation 
away from the railway, and is, also, a sanatorium for 
European (British) troops as well as a hot weather 
resort in the summer season. Besides several hotels, 
there are a number of private houses built on the 
margin of the Gem Lake, an artificial body of water, 
studded with islands and overhung by curious rock, 
one of the latter looking like an enormous toad about 
to spring into the water. A pass was necessary to 
visit the Dilwarra Temples, one of which was built 
about 1032 A. D., the other early in the thirteenth 
century; the latter, the most beautiful of the two, is 
said to have taken fourteen years to build and to have 

[57 1 



DOING OVER. 

cost about eighteen million rupees ($6,000,000), be- 
sides a large sum to level the hill upon which it 
stands. The ceilings of marble for minute delicacy 
of carving and beauty of detail are said to be almost 
unrivalled even in this land of patient and lavish 
labor. Nowhere in India did I see anything to rival 
this particular kind of decoration. The entire temple 
of marble had many cells, the latter lighted only 
through the marble screened doors and contained 
cross-legged figures of the Saint Parswanatha, to 
whom the temple is dedicated ; each cell terminates up- 
ward in a sikra or pyramidal spire-like roof, common 
to all Hindu and Jaen temples of the age in northern 
India. A portico of forty-eight free standing pillars 
is surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pil- 
lars forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells and 
enclose it on all sides as in Buddhist niharas (Bud- 
dhist idol house and monastery). In this case, how- 
ever, each cell, instead of being the residence of a 
monk, is occupied by one of the cross-legged images of 
Parswanatha, all just alike. Over the door of each 
cell, or on its jams, are sculptured scenes from the 
saint's life. In two of the cells, we counted fifteen 
marble elephants of the size of that animal when very 
young. The amount of marble carvings and sculp- 
tures here was too amazing for me to grasp intelli- 
gently enough for a more detailed description than 

[58] 



DOING OVER. 

above given. The ride back to Abu Road station in 
the afternoon was hot but winding around through 
the hills made it very interesting besides giving time 
to reflect on the beauties of the Dilwarra Temples. 
As there would be no train out of Abu Road until 
eleven o'clock, and there was nothing to see at the 
station, we simply had to kill the interval of time as 
best we could. While waiting for the train and close 
to the station here we saw a primitive arrangement for 
making sugar from sugar cane. The cane was fed 
to a revolving press operated by bullocks going around 
in a circle. Several large iron kettles were close by 
to which the sap thus pressed from the cane was taken 
and boiled down. As fuel the pressed cane was util- 
ized. Though already late at night the work went 
steadily on, the natives seeming too absorbed in their 
work to pay any attention to the presence of three 
curious travelers. Though quite a number of work- 
men were thus engaged there was no noise, not even 
conversation so far as was apparent. Every man and 
boy was bent on his work, and that only, seemingly. 
In other places in India we saw oil being pressed out 
of seeds of some kind in a press even more primitive 
than the above sugar press. The introduction of mod- 
ern appliances is barred out of India by the expres- 
sion of the natives that ''it isn't the custom." The 
fact that the primitive way was good enough for their 

[591 



DOING OVER. 

ancestors makes everything, no matter how hard, 
good enough for the present generation. Modern ap- 
pliances, therefore, stand no show in India; the na- 
tives, in consequence, continue slavish work. 

February twentieth found us in Ajmere, six hun- 
dred and fifteen miles from Bombay, where we landed 
at half -past eight, after the night's run from Abu 
Road. 

Ajmere, a city of seventy-four thousand popula- 
tion, the key to Rajputana and capital of an isolated 
British district in the Rajput states, has some artistic 
mosques and temples, besides the Mayo college for 
young Rajput princes. The great Akbar built him- 
self a palace here, the entrance gate to which is very 
fine. The Arhai-din-Ka-Jhompra Mosque, Mohamme- 
dan tradition says, was built supernaturally in two 
and one-half days. There are also several attractive 
small mosques built by Akbar and Shah Jahan, that 
by the latter being of marble. Shah Jahan was the 
great builder of India, and the mosque in Ajmere was 
the first of his works that we had seen up to that 
time. One of the principal points of interest is the 
Dargah, in which, besides many other objects, are two 
large iron caldrons. Rich pilgrims occasionally pay 
for a feast of rice, ghi, sugar, almonds, raisins and 
spices to be cooked in one of these caldrons, the con- 
tents being ladled out to the populace and finally 

[60] 






i^SfW,- 




ELEPHANT WHICH CARRIED US TO AND FROM 
CHITORGARH. 



DOING OVEE. 

scrambled for by the attendants of the shrine. Being 
misguided, we made a trip up a mountain to locate 
the temple in which the aforesaid caldrons were sup- 
posed to be, and as the trip must be made afoot, hav- 
ing taken us two hours, we wound up our day 's sight- 
seeing dead tired. 

As usual, there would be no train out until late 
(half -past eleven this time), and with no hotel in the 
place we passed the interval of time strolling the 
streets and lounging about the railway station. 



61 



CHAPTER VI. 

MORE SIGHTS IN OUT OP WAY PLACES;, AND THE KHYBER 

PASS. 

Our objective point now was Udaipur, one hun- 
dred and eighty-five miles south and which it took 
us twelve hours to make, giving us also another night 
on the te-rain (as some of the natives call the trains). 
The road to Udaipur, a narrow gauge one and very 
small compartment cars, made the trip harder than 
any previously experienced. 

Udaipur, which is two thousand and thirty-four 
feet above the sea, is the capital of the state of Mewar, 
and its ruler, the Maharano Dhiraj Sir Fateh Singh, 
is a descendant of the premier blue blood of India. 
His palace is conspicuous, mainly for its immensity 
and beautiful location on Lake Pichola. The city has 
forty-six thousand population and is surrounded by 
a bastioned wall with a number of gates. To visit the 
palace and grounds, permission must be obtained 
from the British resident. The latter, of which there 
are many throughout India, look after Britain's inter- 
ests, such as the collection of tithes, England's price 
for having conquered India and for keeping the very 
numerous factions at peace. Besides being shown 

[621 



DOING OVEE. 

through the palace we were rowed around the lake 
by some of the palace attendants, the price of the 
courtesy being haksheesh (tip) to the very numerous 
attendants. For every move one makes in India, 
some one or more natives expect to be tipped. 

The lake, which has several small islands scat- 
tered through it, is surrounded by beautiful scenery, 
the palace looming up grandly on one side of it. Sev- 
eral of the islands have villas on them, while on the 
largest of the islands wild boars roam through the 
jungle. One of the island villas, more or less modern, 
has baths and rooms, for the zanana (women of the 
harem) . The Maharana, Prince of the district, is said 
to be immensely wealthy and to own, besides other 
luxuries, a hundred elephants, of which, however, but 
about a half dozen were in the palace grounds at the 
time of our visit. The district is also rich agricul- 
turally. 

One other attraction in Udaipur is the great Jag- 
das temple, in which there is much marble and plaster 
sculpture. It was very dusty and windy in Udaipur 
until about six o'clock, when a rain came up, greatly 
to our relief. This was the third city where our visit 
seemed to bring rain, though the dry season was 
still on. 

February twenty-second, at noon, we left for Chi- 
torgarh station, thirty miles distant, where we arrived 

[63] 



DOING OVEE. 

at four o'clock, and put up at the dak bungalow for 
the night. The city proper, once a populous one, now 
has but a small population, is situated on a hill five 
hundred feet high and about three miles from the 
station. At half-past seven on the morning after our 
arrival, on the back of an elephant, we started for 
the city to view its ruins. The fort or city is sur- 
rounded by a very high wall, the approach being de- 
fended at intervals by seven magnificent gateways. 
Like most Indian cities of importance, Chitorgarh had 
stood many a siege of warfare and was finally de- 
stroyed by the Mohammedans, the Emperor Akbar 
having taken part in its conquest. The remaining 
monuments of the Hindu reign are the two Towers 
of Fame and of Victory. The Tower of Fame, about 
eighty feet high and built about 896 A. D., is in a 
wonderful state of preservation, and is adorned with 
sculptures and mouldings from base to summit. The 
Tower of Victory, originally one hundred and twenty- 
two feet high, built about 1460 A. D., was badly dam- 
aged by an earthquake which destroyed a good por- 
tion of the top. The latter was being rebuilt at the 
time of our visit. Near this tower is a square pil- 
lar recording a sati in 1468. Sati or suttee was the 
ancient custom of burning alive the widow of a Hindu 
on the same pyre that consumed the husband's body. 
This custom was stopped under British rule, but we 

[ 64 ] 



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were told that occasional sati still occur in out of the 
way places, though secretly if at all. 

Several temples and palaces in partial state of 
preservation are also seen in Chitorgarh. The posi- 
tion on the hill and the immense wall around it makes 
one feel the place must have been all but impregnable, 
and no doubt did cost the lives of thousands before 
destroyed. In its final destruction, over eight thou- 
sand Rajputs are said to have fallen before the place 
was taken. Our return to the station on the elephant 
was a no more comfortable ride than was the trip to 
the city (Chitorgarh) , and we were now ready to move 
back to Ajmere from whence we were to go north to 
Jeypoor. The day of our arrival in Chitorgarh sta- 
tion, having been Washington's birthday, one of our 
party that night celebrated the anniversary, aug- 
mented by a raging toothache, which he wished to 
forget, by too frequent and copious draughts upon a 
quart bottle, which had been a part of our ammuni- 
tion. Elephants, cobras, monkeys, and other jungle 
denizens in consequence were supposed to be trying 
throughout the night to get at our friend. 

February twenty-third, at noon, we left Chitorgarh, 
arriving at Ajmere at seven o'clock, and where at 
nine o'clock we boarded train for Jeypoor, eighty- 
four miles distant (seven hundred miles from Bom- 
bay), arriving at one o'clock the next day. The air 
5 [65] 



DOING OVEE. 

was cool, almost cold, when driven to the Kaiser-I- 
Hind Hotel, where Sam quickly spread our bedding, 
and we soon were sleeping the peace of hard travelers. 
Jeypoor, a city of one hundred and fifty thousand 
population, was to me unattractive, nearly all of the 
buildings being painted the same color— a salmon 
hue. The principal industry is brass working, of 
which there is much ; precious stones, also, are largely 
dealt in. We visited one of the latter, to get to which 
we were required to climb to the third floor, up a nar- 
row stairway into a small room, where six or eight 
men were sitting around on the floor, including the 
proprietor. The latter, a corpulent, dignified person- 
age, showed his wares with the dignity of a Rajah. 
A drive through the city and visit to the palace of 
the Maharajah was next in order. This district, as 
well as at Ajmere, was suffering from famine, though 
no distress was apparent among the people so far as 
we could see; the plague, though, seemed to exist ev- 
erywhere to a more or less extent, and it is not to be 
wondered at when one sees the filth that is so preva- 
lent. Due to the failure of crops and consequent fam- 
ine in the agricultural districts, great quantities of 
jungle pigeons (like our domestic pigeons) were 
driven into the cities. Here they swarmed around the 
railway stations, where on grain and rice bags the poor 
birds would continually pounce in an endeavor to 

[66 1 



DOING OVER. 

peck holes into and secure the grain, and from which 
they were as persistently driven by the natives. We 
spent but half a day looking at the sights in Jeypoor, 
and at noon started on the forty-two hours ' and eight 
hundred mile run further north to Peshawar via Delhi. 

On the morning of February twenty-sixth, at six 
o'clock, we landed in Peshawar after a long and tire- 
some ride from Jeypoor. We had passed through the 
Punjab district where are the wheat fields of India, 
the River Indus being the source of supply for many 
miles of irrigation canals. Because of the dry sea- 
son, more or less of the vegetation all through our 
visit to date was in a parched state, and hence no 
growing crops were to be seen. In several districts, 
however, the black bean of India was being harvested. 

At Peshawar, we put up at the Alexandra Hotels 
a poor one, but we were about used to that kind. The 
city has about ninety thousand people, including sev- 
eral hundred Europeans (British). The latter seem 
perfectly at home ; both men and women are seen out 
driving and on horseback with the same ease, appar- 
ently, as if at home in England. And yet the city is 
but ten miles from the gateway to the Khyber Pass, 
with Afghanistan at the other end of the Pass. For 
centuries this city has been, as it still is, of importance 
because of the commerce between India, Afghanistan 
and central Asia, as it also was the seat of strife and 
[67] 



DOING OVEE. 

warfare before British rule. The city swarms with 
natives, mostly Mohammedans; then, too, there are 
those from Afghanistan, Turkestan, central Asia, and 
the surrounding districts of Peshawar, all in the most 
picturesque dress and headgear. In addition, there 
are the numerous bazaars with the wares of Peshawar, 
such as wax cloth work, bright colored scarfs, orna- 
mental needle work, and various other articles. The 
shoe industry here must thrive above everything else 
judging from the number of cobblers and shoe ba- 
zaars. The shoes, very ornamental in decoration, and 
all with the very pointed turned-up toes, are more 
like a slipper, and are made to be worn without shoe 
laces. Some of the inhabitants are both wild and 
fierce looking. Our coming to Peshawar was for the 
purpose of visiting the Khyber Pass, for which pur- 
pose a pass from the British resident here was re- 
quired. 

On the morning of the twenty-seventh, armed with 
the aforesaid pass, we were driven ten miles to Jum- 
rood, the entry to the Khyber Pass and where the fort 
is located. Changing into another vehicle we were 
driven twelve miles into the Pass to Ali Musjid. This 
was as far as we were allowed to go, and where we 
lounged about over our tiffin of cold chicken and 
eggs which had been brought with us. On two days 
in the week only, Tuesday and Friday, the Pass is 

[68] 



DOING OVER. 

patrolled on the India side by the Afridis, under 
British officers, and on the Afghan side of the Pass 
by the Afghans. Only on these two days of each 
week do the caravans dare go out of and come into 
India. Woe to him or those who would attempt the 
Pass on other days, as the hillsides are infested with 
fierce Afridis, who delight in picking off with their 
rifles any wanderer that way. On the day of our 
visit (Tuesday) there passed in and out of India (Ali 
Musjid being the point where the caravans met) as 
near as we could count them about eleven hundred 
camels, as many or more donkeys, many small bul- 
locks and horses, all laden with freight of some kind, 
making up the commerce between India and the sev- 
eral countries on the other side of the Pass. Kabul, 
in Afghanistan, and Bokhara in Turkestan, are the 
principal cities in that part of the world. With the 
immensity of the caravan and their wild, fierce look- 
ing attendants, the sight was one never to be forgot- 
ten. Great, shaggy camels, such as one can probably 
see in no other part of the world, each heavily laden, 
slowly wending their way around through the pic- 
turesque road of the Pass, made that animal look dig- 
nified, indeed almost imperial, in its carriage. 

While at tiffin and waiting for the approach of the 
caravans, we were surrounded by the fiercest look- 
ing fellows (of the neighborhood) that it had ever 

[69 1 



DOINa OVER. 

been my privilege to see. Almost every one was armed 
with some ugly looking weapon, principally knives, 
and every rascal of them was ready to sell their 
weapons to the cnrio-hunting tourist at a price. 

The Pass runs through the western portion of the 
Himalayan range of mountains, which at this point, 
however, are not high enough to be snowcapped, Ali 
Musjid being but one thousand seven hundred feet 
above sea level, with the surrounding hills apparently 
four or five hundred feet higher, all rugged and abso- 
lutely free from vegetation. 

The day was ideal, clear and crisp, which, with 
the sight of the caravans, and the fact that we had 
been in the historic Khyber Pass produced in me the 
keenest of unselfish wishes — ^that all my friends might 
be with us now, or at least that they might some day 
visit the Pass under like favorable conditions. 

Eeturning to Peshawar at four o'clock, having had 
a forty-four mile drive out and back, more time was 
spent visiting the bazaar streets and at eight-forty- 
five we were again aboard train for the return south, 
with Lahore, two hundred and seventy-eight miles 
distant, as the next objective point. 



[70 



CHAPTER VII. 

TREATS PRINCIPALLY OP DELHI AND AGRA, THE SHOW 
TOWNS OP INDIA. 

At noon, on February twenty-eighth, we arrived 
in Lahore (fifteen hours to make two hundred and 
seventy-eight miles), the city of Kiplings' Kim, the 
Zam Zammah, and the Wonder House. This city is 
situated in what looks to be a rich agricultural — and 
it certainly is a pleasing-looking — district in the 
Punjab. 

Rain had just preceded us on our trip through 
here on our way to Peshawar and from the appear- 
ance of vegetation there had been no dry season. 

Lahore, a city of two hundred thousand popula- 
tion, is attractive, as it is also important commercially, 
the railway shops employing two thousand men. The 
place also has a theatre, there being many Europeans 
(mainly British) located here. Wood carving is the 
principal art industry and which reflects itself even 
upon the houses, the balconies and projecting oriel 
windows being elaborately carved. The narrow streets, 
crowded with people in costumes of variety of pat- 
tern and color, made the whole striking in picturesque- 
ness. We did not visit any of the mosques here, con- 

[71] 



DOING OVER. 

fining ourselves to the Wonder House, as some of the 
natives call the museum. The latter contains a great 
collection of antiquities^ arts and manufactures of 
the Punjab. Such wood carvings, as screens, and 
other articles, I had never before seen. 

At six o'clock in the evening we again boarded 
the train and were on our way to Amritsar, thirty- 
two miles away, and where we arrived at eight o'clock, 
in time for dinner at a fair hotel. This city, of one 
hundred and sixty-two thousand population, is the 
seat of the Sikh sect of Hindus, and is also the pricci- 
pal city of the Sikhs. This sect of soldiery were the 
ones to remain loyal to Britain during the mutiny of 
1857, and from amongst them are now selected the 
policemen for the British orient. Rug weaving is 
the principal industry, the most of which are made by 
very young boys. Most of the so-called Persian rugs 
sold in America are manufactured at this place. As 
to temples, the Darbar Sahib, or Golden Temple, is 
the foremost. While not of extraordinary beauty, its 
situation in the center of a tank, or pool, upon a plat- 
form sixty-five feet square, approached beneath an 
archway along a marble causeway two hundred and 
four feet long, flanked on either side by gilded at- 
tractive lamps, makes of the whole a very pleasing 
picture. The lower part of the temple is of marble 
while the greater part of it is encased in gilded cop- 

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DOING OVER. 

per. Thousands of dollars are here stuck on the 
buildings as offerings in the shape of gold leaf. Some 
very valuable jewels belonging to the temple, and 
locked in the temple treasury, we were unable to see, 
the man in charge being at home, sick. As a special 
privilege, which we were, however, required to pay 
for, we were allowed to listen to the reading, by a 
high priest, from the Granth, the holy of holy books. 
The scene was in the temple, the walls of which were 
also gilded and painted, the high priest and all in at- 
tendance being seated on the floor. Pilgrims and dev- 
otees here throw offerings of cowries (small shells, 
used as money) , money or flowers into a sheet spread 
upon the floor for the purpose. In addition to the 
reading from the sacred book, some of the high priest 's 
assistants chanted sacred verses to the music of queer 
stringed instruments. Our visit to Amritsar was in- 
teresting, but not exciting. 

Delhi was reached on the morning of March first 
after a night's ride of three hundred and ten miles 
from Amritsar. The city, located on the river Jumna, 
has a population of two hundred and fifty thousand, 
is eight hundred and ninety miles north of Bombay 
and nine hundred and ninety miles from Calcutta. 
Delhi dates back prior to the tenth century and was 
the object of conquest, more or less all the time, hav- 
ing, it is said, been destroyed six times, and again 
[73] 



DOING OVER. 

rebuilt. Its conquest was alternately by Hindu and 
Mohammedan, or by contending Mohammedan moguls. 
For miles around the present^ city can be seen the 
ruins of previous ones, for each time when rebuilt it 
was away from the old site. In a commercial way, 
Delhi is famous for its jewelers, silversmiths, em- 
broideries and ivory workers. Many of its buildings 
are world famed for the beauty of architecture pro- 
duced in marble. The fort, with its high massive walls 
that stand boldly as impregnable except to modern 
warfare, contains the gems of Delhi 's architecture, for 
here are the marble palaces, mosques and halls of pri- 
vate and public audience, of the Shah Jahan period. 
Having passed through two immense and noble look- 
ing gateways the visitor soon finds himself admiring, 
with open-eyed wonder, the beauties of the Dewan-i- 
Khas (Hall of Private Audience), entirely of marble, 
where the nobles and dignitaries held audience with 
the Emperor. With its pavilions and curved marble 
roof it is said to be one of the most graceful buildings 
in the world. The ceiling of the Dewan-i-Khas was 
once covered with silver, which was stripped off and 
carried away during one of the conquests of Delhi. 
The Dewan-i-Am (or Hall of Public Audience), a 
much larger building of red sandstone, is also very 
attractive. It was in this building, over a raised re- 
cess, that the Emperor, when holding public audience, 

[74] 



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used to be seated under the famous peacock throne 
made of precious stones which were later carried away 
in time of conquest. The Pearl Mosque, the palaces, 
the baths, the zanana (harem) quarters, and tombs, 
all marble, made up a collection incomparably pleas- 
ing, and too numerous for detailed description. In 
the city proper is the Jama Musjid, or large mosque, 
the largest, I believe, in India. There are many other 
attractive mosques and tombs in Delhi, which would 
give the traveler ample subjects for an extended and 
interesting visit. The fort, with all its beauty of 
architecture hidden from the public view, now has 
stationed behind its walls a British garrison. 

Delhi was one of the cities closely connected, with 
the mutiny of Indian troops in 1857. With all the 
beauty of architecture, the natives here, as elsewhere 
in India, seem oblivious of its presence, as they also 
are apparently poverty stricken, at least poverty is 
apparent on all sides. About fifteen miles from the 
present city is old Delhi and where is located the 
Kutab Minar or Tower of Victory. The latter, two 
hundred and thirty-eight feet high, built of red sand- 
stone, except for the top portion, which is marble, is 
said to date back to the thirteenth century. Three 
hundred and seventy-nine steps lead to the top, inside 
the tower, and from which point a good view for miles 
around is obtained. 

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DOING OVEB. 

At Delhi we also saw, for the first time, the Nautch 
girls (dancing girls) in India. These, three in num- 
ber, and two men with musical instruments, came 
upon us as we were about to alight from a carriage 
for a visit to the large mosque. The girls importuned 
us for baksheesh for which they would dance for us. 
One of the women good naturedly asked for a little 
extra baksheesh for her unborn babe. Two of the 
girls were rather comely in appearance and all ap- 
peared happy and anxious to show us their dancing, 
in exchange for some of our rupees. Many more than 
the two days we remained in Delhi might well be 
spent there to advantage, and really are necessary to 
properly see and appreciate the beauty and interest 
here offered the sight-seer. 

Our next objective point, Agra, one hundred and 
thirty-nine miles distant, was reached on the follow- 
ing day, March fourth. Agra, with its one hundred 
and seventy-five thousand native population, is also 
located on the Jumna River. The weather, finally, 
was showing signs of the approach of summer, which 
in India is said to set in on March tenth to the day. 
We were still experiencing dust and wind. The dis- 
trict in which Agra is located was suffering from the 
effects of crop failure, which in India means famine, 
for not enough of grain ever seems to be raised in any 
one locality to carry the peasants beyond the next 

[76] 



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year's harvest. While there was not any apparent suf- 
fering, of the populace, we did see many cattle and 
camels that were greatly emaciated. These poor beasts 
had been turned loose to find food as best they might, 
and as all vegetation seemed dried out, there was 
nothing green to feed upon except the leaves of trees. 
The above situation was seen in the agricultural dis- 
trict in a trip of twenty-two miles into the interior 
from Agra. The latter city has the jewel tomb of the 
world— the Taj Mahal, resting place of Arjmand 
Banu, the favorite wife of Shah Jahan, and generally 
known as Mumtaz Mahal, or chosen of the palace. 
The Taj Mahal was built about 1640 A. D., by the 
Emperor Shah Jahan, the greatest of India's mogul 
builders. The building, entirely of white marble, is 
said to have cost from eighteen million to thirty-two 
million rupees and to have taken about twenty-two 
years to complete. It stands upon a platform of mar- 
ble eighteen feet high and three hundred and thirteen 
feet square, presenting a picture that must be seen to 
be appreciated. At each corner of the platform is a 
minaret (or tower) also of white marble, one hundred 
and thirty-seven feet high. The tomb itself measures 
one hundred and eighty-six feet square, the corners 
being beveled off, are pierced with recesses or bays, 
while the building is one hundred and eight feet high 
topped by a great dome over the centre, rising to a 

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DOING OVER. 

height of one hundred and eip:hty-seven feet from the 
platform. In addition, there are small domes at each 
corner of the building. The exterior and interior are 
decorated with plants and flowers most delicately 
carved in the marble. In the centre of the tomb, 
down from the dome and enclosed by a marble screen, 
is the marble cenotaph as a reminder that the visitor 
is in the presence of the dead. Meanwhile the body of 
Arjmand Banu lies buried deep down beneath the 
platform directly under the cenotaph, away from the 
gaze of those who come to admire the tomb erected 
over her remains. It is said to be the most beautiful 
building in the world. I do not recaU having previ- 
ously seen one so rich in exquisite taste and grace of 
design to which the marble from which built adds 
all that was needed to complete the picture. From the 
sight of the Taj Mahal must have been inspired those 
words "a. thing of beauty and joy forever." As the 
eyes of untold thousands have in the past feasted 
themselves upon its incomparable loveliness, so the 
Taj, if not destroyed, must continue to excite raptur- 
ous admiration in the future. Intended as an Em- 
peror's tribute to a beloved wife, Shah Jahan in the 
Taj Mahal, also bequeathed to the world a monument 
which, likely, will never be equalled. The following 
tribute by Sir Edwin Arnold will greatly add to my 
endeavor to picture the Taj : 

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DOING OVER. 

''Not architecture; as all others are, 
But the proud passion of an Emperor's love 
Wrought into living stone, which gleams and soars 
With body of beauty, shrining soul and thought ; 

* * * As when some face 
Divinely fair unveils before our eyes — 
Some woman beautiful unspeakably — 
And the blood quickens and the spirit leaps, 
And will to worship bends the half -yielded knees. 
While breath forgets to breathe. So is the Taj." 

That the building survived nearly three centuries 
seems nothing short of miraculous, when, considering 
the strife and warfare which prevailed in India for 
centuries prior to British rule. Situated on the River 
Jumna, the Taj may be seen at a great distance. 
Many people rave over a view of the building by 
moonlight, but the sunlight shows it at its best to my 
vision. 

In the fort at Agra, as at Delhi, there are many 
treasures in marble. Some of these are the Pearl 
Mosque of wondrous beauty, the Gem Mosque, the 
Jasmine Tower, a truly marble pearl, the palaces, the 
golden pavilion, and others equally beautiful. All 
these make up such an attractive picture the eyes are 
fairly intoxicated from overf easting while the mind 
is overtaxed in its effort to absorb what is before it. 
Once away from the above surroundings memory re- 
flects but a visionary picture, yet scarcely to be for- 
gotten, once seen. The fort, which encloses these treas- 

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ures in architecture, has a circuit of more than a mile, 
the wall of massive red stone, standing seventy feet 
high surrounded by a moat thirty feet wide and thirty- 
five feet deep. As in Delhi, there are too many attrac- 
tions in Agra to be described in detail. One other 
building, not above referred to, and located across 
the Jumna River, is the tomb of I 'timad-ud-daulah, 
the grandfather of Arjmand Banu (Mumtaz Mahal), 
is noteworthy as being very beautiful. 

Our visit to Fateh-pur-sikri was on the second day 
in Agra and to which we were driven some twenty- 
two miles in a fairly comfortable half native, half 
foreign vehicle. Fateh-pur-sikri was founded by the 
Great Akbar, who, after building the city, with its 
fort, inside of which were the palaces, abandoned the 
place after a few years and removed back to Agra. 
That time and money were objects of no considerable 
consideration to the great mogul emperors of India 
is most strongly shown in the building and abandon- 
ment of the above city. With thousands of slaves to 
do the work, and all the subjects of a ruler contribu- 
ting the enforced liberal tithes, the emperor need but 
live long enough to have built himself innumerable 
monuments if so disposed. Notwithstanding the mon- 
uments built and glory attained in his vigorous man- 
hood, Shah Jahan's last years were spent a prisoner. 
His own son, Aurangzeb, having usurped the throne, 

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had his father confined in a part of the palace from 
one of the rooms of which he could look across the 
Jumna at his master monument, the Taj Mahal. For 
nine years prior to his death, thus confined, he is said 
to have sat daily looking over at the tomb where is 
buried she who had preceded him in death — Arjmand 
Banu, his favorite wife. 

At Fateh-pur-sikri are many attractive red sand- 
stone buildings inside the fort, including one only of 
marble — ^the tomb of the Saint Shaik Salim Chisti. 
This tomb has much lattice screen work and carving, 
all marble. Notwithstanding the place is abandoned 
the most of the buildings inside the fort are in a per- 
fect state of preservation, lasting monuments to the 
great Akbar. 

On the third day in Agra we visited, seven miles 
out, the tomb of Akbar, a building of red sandstone 
and very elaborate in design. The cenotaph, of mar- 
ble, which rests upon the top of the building, is very 
beautiful. At the foot of the cenotaph is a four foot 
marble pillar upon which the great Koh-i-Nur dia- 
mond had been placed in position, and from which 
the Persian Shah Nadir carried it away to Persia. 
During our visit in Agra, the Mohammedans were cel- 
ebrating the anniversary of the death of Mohammed's 
grandson, Husain, whose mother was Fatima, favorite 
daughter of Mohammed. Processions were parading 
6 [81] . 



DOING- OVER. 

the streets all the time for ten days. This anniversary, 
all over India, is said nsually to cause trouble between 
the Hindus and the followers of Mohammed (both 
being fanatical religionists), during the celebration 
period. Our visits to Agra and Delhi were not unlike 
a visit to an exhibition of architectural display, as in 
truth they were. My enthusiasm knew no bounds, 
unless subdued by awe, for surely we had now seen 
the beauties of beauties in Indian architecture, the 
like of which I had not previously dreamed of, unless 
it were possible to picture them in connection with 
the stories of the Arabian Nights. 



[82] 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SACRED CITY OF BENARES^ AND BUDDH GAYA. 

We next visited Lucknow, one hundred and ninety- 
four miles south from Agra, having gone aboard the 
train in the latter city on the afternoon of March 
sixth, arriving at Lucknow at five o'clock the follow- 
ing morning. 

Lucknow has a native population of two hundred 
and eighty thousand, of whom three-fifths are Hindus, 
with a very small foreign (British) population. It 
is, perhaps, needless to say that the British are scat- 
tered all through India, many of them in small out 
of the way places. Lucknow was, with Cawnpur, the 
seat of the mutiny of 1857, when English men, women 
and children were frightfully massacred. The ruined 
buildings of what were used as the fortifications by the 
British during the mutiny, are still shown the tourists ; 
an affable old soldier who had been one of the defend- 
ers at the time was in charge and showed us over the 
grounds. Except for the above ruins, nothing of 
especial interest was to be seen in Lucknow, hence 
the day dragged along slowly until eight o 'clock, when 
we boarded train for Benares, one hundred and 
eighty-seven miles away. Once aboard the cars, no 
[83] 



DOING OVER. 

time was lost in having our bedding spread, and turn- 
ing in for the night, for, in addition to having arrived 
at Lucknow at five o 'clock that morning, we were due 
to arrive in Benares at three o'clock the next morn- 
ing. Those were hard traveling days for us. 

Having arrived in Benares, as above stated, and 
as it was our intention to be out upon the river (the 
Ganges) at sunrise, no thought of intervening sleep 
had been considered. The city has a native popula- 
tion of about two hundred and forty thousand, with 
but few foreigners. It is located on the Ganges River, 
four hundred and sixty miles north of Calcutta. Be- 
nares is considered by the Hindus to be the holiest 
city in India, as is the Ganges the holiest river. The 
Hindus come here on pilgrimages from all parts of 
India to worship in some one of the two thousand 
temples in the city. In addition, the pilgrim does not 
lose the opportunity, while in Benares, to bathe in 
the holy Ganges River, and also, at the same time, 
drink the water or rinse the mouth therewith, and to 
carry away with them a quantity of the water to their 
distant homes. All the above is done in the belief 
that the waters of the Ganges cleanses the devotee 
spiritually. The tourists, to get a proper view of the 
above proceedings, hire a boat and boatmen and are 
rowed out upon the Ganges along the city front, sun- 
rise being the best time, because at that time the 

[84] 



DOING OVEE. 

greatest number of bathers are to be seen. During the 
interval of our arrival at Benares and sunrise, about 
six o'clock, nothing was left for us to do but lounge 
around the railway station. Before the sun had risen, 
however, we were upon the river, and already the 
Hindu population could be seen coming down the 
bathing ghats (stone steps), leading to the river, for 
their morning ablutions. Men, women, young boys 
and girls made up the throng. There being a good 
many of the bathing gJiats along the city front, our 
boatmen rowed us up and down within forty or fifty 
feet of the shore, so that a good view was obtained of 
the bathers. The latter, with but few exceptions, paid 
little or no heed to the strangers staring at them, while 
those in prayer, of whom there were many, appeared 
quite oblivious to our presence, their eyes, if not 
closed, being directed toward the rising sun coming 
up over the bank on the opposite side of the river. 
At one of the burning ghats, the bodies of Hindus 
were being cremated, the process being about the 
same as described in these notes on the sights seen in 
Bombay. 

During our stay at one of the burning ghats four 
bodies were thus cremated. A number of sati stones 
are also to be seen here. These sati (or suttee) 
stones were put up to commemorate a sati, or burning 
alive of a wife or the wives at the pyre that con- 
[85] 



DOINO OVER. 

sumed the body of departed husbands a long time 
since. Infants, we were told, were thrown into the 
river bodily, to verify which, apparently, we saw, at 
a point along the water's edge, a vulture devouring 
the body of an infant. While a somewhat gruesome 
sight the burning ghats were not without interest as 
a part of sight-seeing. The city from the river looked 
very picturesque with the attractive spires of pal- 
aces and temples to be seen everywhere. In the 
city proper the so-called Golden Temple probably at- 
tracts the greater number of tourists. This temple, 
even more than other Hindu temples, is too sacred to 
admit of any but Hindus. It fronts on a crowded 
street scarcely more than five feet wide and from a 
position in the second floor of a building opposite we 
were allowed to look down on the throngs of wor- 
shipers, who were streaming in and out of the tem- 
ple. One group of worshipers going in, led with 
them a cow. The cow, by the way, is the most sacred 
thing in India to the Hindus. All through India we 
.saw these sacred beasts stroll the streets unmolested, 
and woe to him who would desecrate her by any ill 
treatment. It was an uncommon thing to see a cow 
going through the streets, at intervals helping herself 
to such bits of delicate morsels of vegetables from the 
stands of some vegetable dealer unmolested by the 
owner except to be gently pushed along after a mouth- 

[86] 



DOING OVEE. 

ful had been taken. On the ground floor of the build- 
ing from which we had viewed the Golden Temple, 
there was a sacred bull carved from granite over 
which there was hung a punka (a large fan arrange- 
ment) to keep the beast cool. Close by is the sacred 
Well of Knowledge, into which the god Shiva is said 
to have been thrown, and who, the Hindus say, still 
exists there. Not far from the Golden Temple is the 
Nepalese Temple, and which, up under the eaves on 
all four sides, has a row of most obscene carvings. On 
the outskirts of the city is the so-called Monkey Tem- 
ple, so named from the numerous monkeys who infest 
the grounds and the trees around it. The tourist 
visiting this place is expected to give baksheesh to 
every Hindu in the place, and there are many of them. 
One of the further interesting sights seen in Benares 
was a procession of Sadhus (fakirs or holy men) on 
their way to a feast that had been prepared for them 
at the expense of a wealthy pilgrim, who happened 
to be in the city at the time of our visit. These Sad- 
hus were naked but for a cover around their loins, 
their hair disheveled and bodies smeared over with 
ashes, as they always are. Though on their way to 
a feast, their faces betrayed no pleasure, expressing 
nothing but the usual vacant stare. There are said 
to be five million of Sadhus in India. These men 
live on the charity of the people, go from place to 

[87] 



DOING OVEB. 

place, stark naked, except for the slight covering 
around their loins, and are smeared all over with ashes 
as herebefore described. While looked upon as holy 
men by the Hindus and though they scourge them- 
selves frightfully in various ways to gain Nervana, 
most of them are said to be bad morally. 

It is beyond belief as to how these fanatics can 
long endure some of the self-inflicted tortures, as for 
instance, sitting or standing in one position for years, 
oft-times with arms extended above their heads until 
the arms become rigid ; some stand on one foot ; others 
are said to hang suspended for hours over a fire, the 
while swinging to and fro. Other self-inflicted tor- 
tures are indulged in, and how they live through them 
is inconceivable. "We saw several young boys amongst 
those of the fakirs who came under our observation. 

Benares was interesting to me as it also is filled 
with religious fanatics. The city dates back, sup- 
posedly, several thousand years before the Christian 
era. It was near here, at Sarnath, that Buddha is 
said to have begun to preach his religion, some two 
thousand five hundred years ago. 

With the curtain down on Benares and a ride of 
one hundred and thirty-seven miles, we reached Gaya 
on March ninth, from which point we were to visit 
Buddh Gaya, seven miles away in the country. It 
was at Buddh Gaya (by some referred to as the cen- 

[88] 



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tre of the universe and seat of knowledge) that Bud- 
dha retired into the wilderness (not much less a wil- 
derness now) for his long meditation. Here under 
the sacred Bo tree, long since destroyed, but replaced 
from time to time by a new one, Buddha is said to 
have been inspired in his new teaching, — the declara- 
tion that the Eight-fold Path was the way by which 
all suffering was annihilated, through right views, 
right resolve, right speech, right actions and living, 
right effort, right self-knowledge and right medita- 
tion. A temple here built in Buddha's honor is said 
to date back to 543 B. C, and is closely connected with 
events of the life of Buddha. The building is in the 
form of a pyramid, nine stories high, of burnt brick 
cemented with mud, ornamented on the outside with 
niches and mouldings. The place is held most sacred 
by the Buddhists, of whom, strange to say, there are 
greater numbers now in Burma, China, Corea and 
Japan, than in India. The Brahman priests seem to 
have effectually squelched Buddhism in India. 

We met here a Japanese Buddhist priest who was 
on a pilgrimage to the sacred birthplace of Bud- 
dhism. Around the temple is still a portion of a 
stone railing, which has four bars of stone supported 
by pillars at intervals of eight feet. The top rail is 
ornamented with carvings of mermaids, or females 
with tails of fish, inserting their arms into the mouths 

[89] 



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of imaginary crocodiles, with large elephant-like ears 
and long hind legs. The other three bars of the rail- 
ing bear carvings of lotus flowers. The pillars are 
adorned with carvings of various groups, such as a 
woman and child, a man with a woman who has the 
head of a horse, centaurs, and various other things. 
It is said to be the most ancient sculptured monument 
in India. The footprint of Buddha, in stone, is here 
seen and measures about two feet. 

The visit to Buddh Gaya, in interest, well repaid 
the dusty and otherwise uncomfortable ride of four- 
teen miles in a shaky vehicle from Gaya and return. 

"We now had before us a run of three hundred and 
forty-two miles to Calcutta, where I expected to re- 
ceive the first mail from home, since sailing from New 
York on January sixth. That I was thirsting for 
word from home, after more than two months of 
silence, need scarcely have been recorded in these 
notes, but my thoughts, notwithstanding, crowded to 
the bursting point with the interesting things seen in 
the interval, were now too much centered in the pleas- 
ant anticipation of ''letters from home" not to have 
reflected themselves in my note book at the time. 



90 



CHAPTER IX. 

DARJEELING AND THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS. 

Our arrival in Calcutta on March tenth at six 
o'clock in the morning was coincident with the ad- 
vent in India of summer. That the air was hot and 
sultry we could vouch for, especially as we had not 
previously, in the whole trip, experienced other than 
clear hot days and cool nights. Calcutta is just about 
half way around the world from Chicago, hence I 
was now twelve thousand miles from home and we 
had voyaged eight thousand one hundred and fifty 
knots from New York to Bombay, besides having 
traveled about four thousand six hundred miles by 
rail in our traveling through India. 

Calcutta is claimed to be the largest city in India, 
with a population of nine hundred thousand, — how- 
ever, during our stay in Bombay, the newspapers 
were claiming a larger population than Calcutta's. 
That rivalry between cities as to population exists 
the world over is apparent even in India. Calcutta 
does not have the attractive public buildings of which 
Bombay boasts, and, besides, needs a decent hotel 
more than any place of even much smaller size that 
I have ever seen. Neither has it the attractiveness 

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in sights of most cities previously visited on this trip. 
The city has a large foreign population, mostly Brit- 
ish, hence the buildings in the European part are 
of foreign architecture. It also has been, for many 
years, the principal port city of India, and its com- 
merce has been of corresponding importance and mag- 
nitude. The native part of the city is not unlike 
other cities of India. The city is on the Hugli River, 
which is spanned by a substantial bridge, connecting 
with a considerable population on the other side. On 
the latter is the botanical garden, very attractive, 
with the largest banyan tree (claimed) in the world. 
A zoological garden here gave us the first sight of a 
cobra (in captivity), and some of which we had ex- 
pected to see all through India. Though already five 
weeks in the country and though nearly five thousand 
miles had been traveled, we had seen but little of the 
jungles. As I had previously pictured India as more 
or less a vast jungle, my surprise was complete. 

This tenth day of March being one of the numer- 
ous native holidays, the banks were all closed, hence 
whatever mail from home was awaiting us could not 
be obtained because addressed in care of one of the 
banks. The next day was Sunday when the banks 
were still closed, and as we decided time could be 
gained by the move, we left Calcutta on Sunday for a 
visit to Darjeeling, to return to Calcutta on the fol- 

[92] 













liiliilllili 



4» ;S^,<V' 




GREAT TEMPLE TO BUDDHA AT BUDDH GAYA, 
INDIA, 



DOING OVER. 

lowing Tuesday. This additional wait for mail did 
not add happiness to my previous anticipation of 
pleasure over coming into Calcutta. The holiday 
above referred to was a Hindu one and in connection 
with it the natives celebrated, mainly, so far as we 
could see, by throwing at one another a carmine paint 
or powder. In consequence the streets were full of 
Hindus, covered, some of them, from head to feet 
with the coloring. A most amusing incident occurred 
at church during mass on Sunday morning. The 
church was filled with a congregation, made up, al- 
most entirely, of natives, and while the priest was 
in the midst of his sermon, a crow flew in, lighted 
upon the top of one of the several pillars, gave a num- 
ber of caws, looked down at the gathered congrega- 
tion, as if trying to attract attention, seemed surprised 
that no one apparently gave him the slightest heed, 
and, giving a few more caws, flew out. So far as I 
could see not one other of those present even looked 
in the direction of the crow, but to me it was a highly, 
out of the ordinary and amusing incident. 

At four o'clock on the afternoon of March elev- 
enth, we boarded the train for Darjeeling, located up 
in the Himalayan mountains and perched upon the 
side of one of the numerous peaks of that range. 
While only two hundred and fifty miles from Cal- 
cutta, the trip takes about twenty-one hours, made 

[93 1 



DOING OVER. 

up of a run of about two hundred miles by rail to a 
point on the river Ganges, which is crossed by boat to 
Siliguri (during which short time we had dinner on 
board), and finally from Siliguri by narrow gauge 
railway fifty miles up to Darjeeling. This latter part 
of the trip took six hours and carried us from about 
sea level to seven thousand feet above it. The scenery, 
beginning soon after leaving Calcutta, then through 
the jungles from Siliguri to Darjeeling, was the most 
attractive I had seen in India. The jungle feature 
was of especial interest because it was the first real 
forest through which we had traveled, in the nearly 
five thousand miles in India. Vegetation, all along 
the trip from Calcutta, looked fresh, and formed a 
great contrast to most others seen, except that in the 
Punjab district, heretofore referred to. A new inter- 
est was inspired in the visit to Darjeeling because of 
the unique situation of the place upon the mountain 
side, just hanging on, so to speak. A further inter- 
est was that of the inhabitants and their picturesque 
costumes. The natives here have a cast of features 
coarse and large, somewhat Chinese, are rugged in 
physique, added to which was evident hardihood of 
general makeup, natural to mountain life. Chinese 
and Thibetans also are mixed up in the population. 
The women here are the carrier coolies, and with ease 
will handle luggage consisting of trunks, carrying 

[941 



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it on their shoulders with no apparent greater diffi- 
culty than would the men have experienced. All ap- 
peared good natured, and especially the women, ev- 
eryone of whom it seemed had some cheap jewelry 
for sale as they moved about the streets. Wherever 
our party appeared throughout the town, especially 
in the so-called bazaar streets, these women would 
surround us importuning the purchase of some one 
or other of their stock of jewelry. The purchase of a 
cheap ring from one of these women gave me an in- 
teresting experience and insight into their business 
acumen. Like all orientals, those in Darjeeling are 
natural traders, in which the women are the leaders 
rather than the men. On one of the streets we saw 
a very interesting dance by six men, some of whom 
wore masks and all being dressed in a kind of skirt 
costume, very picturesque, as was also the dance. The 
inhabitants here were not dark like those in the south 
of India, but appeared rather of a tanned color 
through which showed plainly their red cheeks, clear 
eyes and general good health. 

Darjeeling is the gateway from India to Thibet, 
and during our visit a Thibetan representative (called 
shape, pronounced sha-pee) and suite were en route 
to Calcutta to make the yearly payment of indemnity 
to Britain as a result of the expedition of Colonel 
Younghusband into Thibet several years ago. It was 

r951 



DOING OVER. 

from Darjeeling that the expedition started, after 
the soldiers had been trained up to the capacity of 
enduring mountain height and climbing. For the 
expedition into Thibet it was necessary to go up some 
twelve thousand to fourteen thousand feet, the high- 
est altitude by far that any army ever traversed. The 
mountain pass, which it was necessary to take, and 
which Younghusband did take, is said to be only about 
one hundred miles from Darjeeling. The district of 
Darjeeling, which extends some distance, raises large 
quantities of tea, said to be as much as eight million 
pounds each year. It has a population of about one 
hundred and sixty thousand. It is in some part of 
this district, or just beyond it toward Thibet, that 
the women are said to have two or more, even as many 
as seven, husbands. The latter must, however, be 
brothers if a woman has more than one husband. 
These women are said to lord it over their husbands, 
the latter being entirely submissive to their lot. 

The women in Darjeeling wear massive earrings 
that seemed to be solid gold, the weight of which, from 
long wearing, had extended the slit in the ear large 
enough, in some cases, to easily insert two fingers. 
Our visit to this city was, mainly, to get a view of Mt. 
Everest, one hundred and twenty miles away, and to 
see which it is necessary to be at a point two thousand 
feet higher, at Tiger Hill, at sunrise. Therefore, at 

[96 1 



DOING OVER. 

half-past three on the morning following our arrival 
we were called and after a chota hazrai (small break- 
fast or tea and toast) we started on horseback up the 
mountain road. A full moon, a clear sky and a crisp 
atmosphere made the trip the most enjoyable, as it 
also was perhaps the most interesting and novel horse- 
back ride of my life.. We arrived at Tiger Hill (nine 
thousand feet above sea level) at six o'clock; day- 
break was well advanced and the sun's rays were 
already reflected far and wide. Our guides soon had 
a fire built and hot tea ready, both of which after 
the cold ride (about forty degrees temperature) of 
about two hours (distance six miles) were decidedly 
welcome. Each moment had brought the sun nearer 
the horizon and its reflection upon the snow-capped 
mountains was already apparent, when of a sudden, 
as it seemed, and while all eyes were in its direction, 
it burst full upon us. There was now before us the 
grandest panorama in nature in all the world. Be- 
tween our point of vantage on Tiger Hill and the sun, 
there was, away below us, a sea of clouds, beyond 
these to right and left, towering high above our posi- 
tion, was that wondrous collection of the Himalaya's 
high peaks. Miles of these latter and miles of snow 
and ice upon which the sun's rays were now adding 
richness of color incomparable. Of the dozen or more 
peaks, ranging in height from seventeen thousand to 
7 [ 97 1 



DOING OVER. 

twenty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-six feet, 
the latter, that of Kinchinjunga, stood forward most 
majestically. Though forty miles away, it seemed not 
beyond a very few miles, due of course to its great 
height and the clear atmosphere. Far as the eyes 
could see east and west there was a continuous range 
of peaks of snow and ice and all covered by the sun's 
rays. The whole scene was one so awe-inspiring that 
there was within me an instinctive feeling to take off 
my hat and bow in the presence of such grandeur, 
keeping in mind Him who created it all. And still 
there is more to tell, for away off, and the eye follows 
the range of mountains eastward for one hundred and 
twenty miles, where, in the clear morning of our 
visit, could just be seen the outlines of the peak of 
that monarch of high peaks, Mt. Everest (twenty- 
nine thousand and tw^o feet high). The latter is 
so far away that with all its power, the sun only 
just shows Mt. Everest to our vision, without the rich 
adornments of snow and ice as seen in the range 
nearer our position. 

The good fortune which had been ours all througl 
the tour to date was with us again, for but for the 
clear sky and atmosphere Mt. Everest could not be 
seen and even the infinitely greater grandeur of those 
peaks closer to us would have been diminished, if 
indeed not entirely obscured. Because of the extreme 

[98] 



DOING OVER. 

height and climatic conditions, it is but seldom, 'twas 
said, that so clear a morning is seen on Tiger Hill as 
was our good fortune. Indeed, before we left the 
point, and we had not been there more than half an 
hour, the clouds were gathering and by noon rain 
was falling in Darjeeling. The trip up and back had 
taken about four hours. The ride back to the latter 
point from Tiger Hill was even more fascinating than 
the going up, for the sun was now well up, and miles 
upon miles of mountainous expanse within view. Hav- 
ing seen what we had come for, we planned an early 
departure from Darjeeling, hence early afternoon 
found us again aboard the narrow gauge railway for 
the return trip to Calcutta. The rain that had come 
up somewhat obscured our view of the surrounding 
scenery, but the picturesqueness of the narrow gauge 
railway was unchanged, for winding around through 
the mountain, a sharp curve here and again, a switch 
back from time to time, then a stop at some station,, 
where more interesting people would be seen, and 
finally the ride again through the jungle, where mon- 
keys could be seen in the trees, we continued the de- 
scent down and down until Siliguri was again reached. 
Darkness had come upon us before the arrival at Sili- 
guri and instead of a headlight, our engine had on 
top of it a coal-oil burner of some kind that threw 
the light well around into the jungle and ahead of 

[99] 



DOING OVER. 

the train as well. The trip to Calcutta was over the 
same route as when we had gone to Darjeeling and 
we pulled into the station at Calcutta at seven o'clock 
on the following morning. 

Though high upon the Himalayas, Darjeeling is 
said to have a temperature of thirty degrees minimum 
and eighty degrees the highest, and the rainfall to 
be as much as one hundred and thirty inches in a 
year. At Siliguri we saw a small detachment of 
Ghurkas. These fellows, like the Sikhs, are loyal 
to Britain. The Ghurkas are small, not unlike the 
Japanese, and besides appearing as husky, also have 
very Japanese features and are said to be fearless. 
The Sikhs, on the other hand, are tall, of fine physique 
and good looking and all wear full beard, it being 
one of the tenets of their belief (as reformed Hindus) , 
to not shave their faces. All over India, Burma, Cey- 
lon, in fact, where Britain rules, there are Sikh po- 
licemen. 

March fourteenth, in Calcutta, but as we had seen 
pretty much what there was of interest before the 
trip to Darjeeling, and the weather being frightfully 
sultry and hot, there was little disposition to move 
around. There were in the zoo collection here a 
number of cobras in two cages, in one of which one 
of the attendants, a Hindu, went with bared feet and 
but few clothes. Though the cobras were hidden 
[ 100 ] 



DOING OVER. 

under straw on the floor of the enclosure, the attend- 
ant stepped in from an opening in the back with 
seeming unconcern as to whether he stepped upon 
one of the venomous reptiles or not. The latter, some 
half dozen, at once appeared in the opposite side of 
the enclosure, all of them with their heads up in the 
air about twelve inches and with hood spread made 
frequent darts at the Hindu. The latter continued, 
fearless, and after we had had a good view of the 
cobras, the Hindu came from the cage unharmed. 
Next to the Russel, or tree viper, the cobra is one of 
the most venomous of reptiles. The above Hindu, as 
per arrangement, came to our hotel next day with a 
rat, a cobra and a Russel viper, for the purpose of 
showing us a rat and cobra fight; neither showing a 
disposition to battle, however, the Hindu brought out 
the viper. The latter, after some maneuvering on 
the part of the Hindu, bit the rat, which in about ten 
minutes was dead. The reptiles and rat had been 
brought down in separate small bags, all carried in 
another bag just large enough to hold the uncanny 
collection. Taking the rat out first and tying one 
end of a string around its body just ahead of its 
hind legs, the Hindu wound the other end of the 
string around his big toe. The cobra and viper were 
then taken out in turn, the whole proceeding having 
taken place upon the ground, the reptiles, as well 
r 101 1 



DOING OVER. 

as the rat, the while trying to get away. The Hindu 
would pick the reptiles up about midway of their 
body and pull them back, meantime trying to get 
the head and the rat together for the conflict. 

The Hindu, a dried-up little fellow, though care- 
ful when taking out and replacing the reptiles in 
the bags, did not appear to regard the proceeding as 
necessarily dangerous. Asked as to how it was the 
things did not harm him^ as answer he pointed to a 
charm which hung down over his dark bony breast. 
Notwithstanding the charm, however, he was minus 
a finger which had been promptly cut off, he said, 
after having been bitten by a cobra. 

The heaviest hail storm probably that I had ever 
seen fell during our stay in Calcutta. 



102 



CHAPTER X. 

OF BURMA^ THE BURMESE AND MANDALAY. 

On March sixteenth, we boarded the steamer Pali- 
tana for the six hundred and sixty mile run to Han- 
goon, Burma. It was one hundred and twenty miles 
down the Hugli River to its mouth, then four hun- 
dred and eighty miles through the delta of the bay 
and Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Martaban to the Ran- 
goon River, and finally sixty miles up the latter to 
Rangoon. The fare for the trip was seventy-five 
rupees or about twenty-five dollars. Before being 
allowed to go to the ship's pier, all prospective pas- 
sengers were required to look the health officer in the 
face, have one's pulse felt, then proceed. The latter 
was easy enough, provided one did not get too inter- 
ested in the health officer, who was a young English 
woman. The Calcutta days which had been excess- 
ively hot ones during our visit was added to during 
the last two hours, because for some reason the Pali- 
tana was not ready at the appointed hour to let us 
go on board. Meanwhile all the passengers, native 
and foreign, were crowded together on the pier, with 
the choice of standing out in the sun or in the pier 
shed. The sun was intensely hot, while the atmos- 
[103 1 



DOING OVEE. 

phere inside the shed was both hot and disagreeable. 
Here, then, was a most uncomfortable alternative. 
When finally allowed to go aboard, there was an un- 
necessarily indiscriminate scramble to get into the 
ship's inside, or preferably onto her shaded prome- 
nade decks. As to the poor steerage passengers, they 
were mixed up like a lot of cattle, except that the 
latter would have had only themselves to look after 
in such a situation, whereas the steerage were all 
more or less loaded down with their belongings. The 
latter consisted, seemingly, of every conceivable some- 
thing which the natives carry with them when trav- 
eling, from infants in arms and children toddling 
along, to bedding and pieces of household furniture. 
Finally, when all were aboard and the baggage had 
all been brought up, we steamed out into the Hugli 
River, and Calcutta was soon left in the distance. 
There were but about twenty first-cabin passengers, 
and about seven hundred steerage, all natives. The 
natives v/ere again thickly huddled together, squatted 
about on their haunches in true Indian style, or other- 
wise lounging about the steerage deck in oriental fash- 
ion. They were well-behaved, however, and regularly, 
at the proper time, a group of Mohammedans could 
be seen at prayer, their eyes in the direction of Mecca. 
The run to Rangoon was without noteworthy inci- 
dent, while the weather conditions throughout the two 
[104] 



DOING OVER. 

and one-half days proved ideal, the Bay of Bengal the 
while having been on its good behavior. 

As the plague was prevalent in India at time of 
our departure, the arrival in the harbor of Rangoon 
was immediately followed by a visit from the Rangoon 
health officers, who, in due course, gave the ship's 
officers a clean bill of health and all were allowed to 
go ashore. 

Rangoon is an unattractive city of two hundred 
and thirty thousand population, of whom seventy- 
seven thousand are said to be Hindus, forty thousand 
Mohammedans, nine thousand Christians, the balance 
mainly Burmese, who are also principally Buddhists. 
The city has many pagodas, of which the Shwe-Dagon 
Pagoda is the principal one, and it is also the largest 
in Burma. In the grounds of the Shwe-Dagon are 
innumerable small pagoda shrines erected by the 
wealthy Buddhist families for their personal use. 
Most of these shrines, before which the devout wor- 
ship, are of attractive design, decorated profusely 
with carvings, both pleasing and hideous. The Shwe- 
Dagon is an attractive spire of more or less conical 
shape, with a ti or umbrella shape top, upon which, 
as on most of the shrines, are hung all around the 
umbrella edge small bells, which, when the wind blows, 
send out a tiny ringing sound. The Shwe-Dagon 
stands upon a platform one hundred and sixty-six 
[ 105 1 



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feet above the street and rises to a height of three 
hundred and seventy feet, the whole structure from 
the pinnacle down being covered with carvings and 
gold leaf, the latter contributed by the devout Bud- 
dhists as offerings. There were also innumerable 
statues of Buddha within the grounds, the latter, sur- 
rounded by a stone wall, was, before Britain's dom- 
ination of Burma, used as a fort. The approach to 
the pagoda grounds are up covered stone steps, on 
either side of which are stalls or bazaars, where vari- 
ous kinds of cheap articles as well as flowers are sold 
to the devotees on their way to the pagodas, as offer- 
ings to some one of the gods. On each side of the 
approach to the steps is an immense leogryph, which 
stand as guards in all their hideousness. Outside 
the city is the so-called Marriage Pagoda, where the 
unmarried go to pray to Buddha that they soon may 
enjoy wedlock. Most of the visitors to this pagoda 
are girls, though the men, also, are not above such 
visits. 

The Burmese women, already on this short visit 
to this country, impressed me as the most interesting 
orientals of any seen on this tour. They have a dig- 
nified, almost independent bearing, in their attractive 
colored dress, which, with neatly done-up hair, makes 
them look the picture of neatness. While they looked 
attractive in Burma, we would scarce countenance all 
[ 106 ] 



DOING OVER. 

of the Burmese girls' habits, for instance, the long 
thick cheroot which they smoke would hardly become 
our girls. Then, too, with all their beauty, grace of 
figure and carriage, we would prefer our girls con- 
tinued the custom of wearing shoes in preference to 
their going bare-footed as do the Burmese. Be it 
said, however, to the credit of the latter, that their 
feet are not unshapely, though perhaps covered with 
dust when in the streets. The Burmese women also 
are rather darker brunettes, I fear, than our girls 
would care to be from choice. 

In striking contrast to the women are the Bud- 
dhist priests one seems to see everywhere. These 
priests, besides appearing in a hideous unshapely 
garb of an unattractive yellow color, are ignorant 
looking, and invariably homely rascals. They go 
about bareheaded with closely cropped hair. These 
priests are said to be very numerous in Burma, in 
seeming verification of which we saw a number of 
Buddhist monasteries, where the young aspirants to 
priesthood are trained. During our short visit of 
about three days, Rangoon had two fires, one of which 
destroyed forty-eight native huts. The other was in 
a business block and during its progress, from the 
excitement and number of people running in all di- 
rections carrying household effects, one might have 
thought the whole city was burning. 
[107 1 



DOING OVEE. 

Rangoon was hot and dusty, and it is without 
architectural attractiveness. A fair hotel, fronting 
on the river (the Rangoon) could give us sleeping 
accommodations in its annex only, and where comfort 
was greatly at a discount. But we had become accus- 
tomed to discomforts, of which we had already ex- 
perienced so much, especially as to sleeping quarters. 
The bazaar streets of Rangoon lacked the attractive- 
ness of other oriental cities of equal size, and though 
the city is important as a centre for wood carvings, 
the bazaar stores had on sale chiefly cheap articles 
for utility purposes, much of which looked, as it 
probably was, of European manufacture. Germany 
seems to lead in the production of cheaply made arti- 
cles for oriental use. Elephants are put to good use 
in Rangoon, and we saw them moving immense logs 
and piling lumber, using both their trunks and tusks 
in the work. It was with apparent ease that these 
beasts would roll heavy timber or shove it along into 
place. That our kodakist might photograph one of 
these noble beasts to good advantage, the man in 
charge was asked if the elephant might be induced to 
pick up one of the logs and hold it while being pho- 
tographed. Without hesitancy, the man upon his 
back addressed the beast in an almost inaudible tone, 
when the elephant turned around to where there was 
a log about thirty feet long, forced his tusks under 
[108 1 



] 



I 






(): 






f!^/ 



• < ^»^ 'fn^ Jk'-;* *^* j;J 






BURMESE GIRL AND PAGODA SHRINES, 
BURMA. 



DOING OVER. 

it, and with his trunk wound around it, raised the 
immense weight from the ground with what appeared 
no effort at all. 

Both the plague and small-pox were prevalent in 
Rangoon during our visit, in fact it was claimed the 
city is never without them, and it is not to be won- 
dered at from the filth on all sides and the congested 
manner in which the poor live. The one redeeming 
feature to the city's appearance is an attractive park, 
where those who can afford it drive during the early 
evening to obtain a breath of fresh and fragrant air, 
for the park, besides other attractions in nature, has 
many flowers. 

Having seen Rangoon's few attractions, aside from 
the innumerable pagodas, we boarded train at noon 
on March twentieth for the three hundred and eighty- 
four mile run north to Mandalay, and where we ar- 
rived at six o'clock the next morning. The ride was 
intensely dusty and hot during the day, though the 
night was cool. The country traversed was largely 
flat, with occasional short stretches of jungles, and 
pagodas at frequent intervals, all along the line. 

Burma has a great deal of hard wood timber, such 
as teak. Mandalay, which has one hundred and 
eighty-four thousand population, was very hot and 
dusty. The plague was also raging there and the city 
deserted by those who could get away. As in Ran- 
[109 1 



DOING OVER. 

goon, the pagodas are largely the attraction, the prin- 
cipal one, the so-called Knthodow or four hundred 
and fifty pagoda, is made up of a group of four hun- 
dred and fifty small pagodas which are unique, if not 
beautiful, in design. They are shrines rather than 
pagodas, in each of which is a stone tablet, on each 
side of which is engraved : ' ' The holy books of Bud- 
dhism," said to be the purest version of the com- 
mandments. 

King Thebaw's uncle, anxious that the holy books 
should be recorded in enduring form, called together 
the most learned priests for the purpose. The four 
hundred and fifty pagodas are in an enclosure one- 
half mile square, surrounded by a high wall, in the 
centre of the group being a temple of the usual form. 

There are many monasteries in Mandalay, prom- 
inent ones being the Glass Monastery, and the Queen 's 
Golden Monastery. Other pagodas are the Kyauk 
Taw Gyi Pagoda, built over a monolithic image of 
Buddha, the Arrakan Pagoda, rendered especially sa- 
cred by the great sitting image of Gautama (Bud- 
dha) there preserved. This image of brass, twelve 
feet high, is said to have been brought over the hills 
from Akyab in 1784. The image was originally set 
(quoting the ancient legend) during the lifetime of 
the great master. The utmost skill and persistent en- 
ergy had failed in fitting the parts together until 

[110 1 



DOING OVER. 

Buddha, perceiving from afar what was going on, 
and ever full of pity, came to the spot himself and 
embracing the image seven times so joined the frag- 
ments that closest scrutiny can not detect the points 
of junction. The shrine in which it stands is said to 
be one of the most splendid in the country. 

Inside the fort are the palace buildings, profuse in 
wood carvings and gilt. The great bazaar was of 
much interest, made up of a number of buildings not 
unlike market houses in the States. There was on 
sale in the various departments, grain, salt fish, veg- 
etables, toys, umbrellas, lacquer work, silverware, jew- 
elry, precious stones, silks, lace work, and numerous 
other things. Most of the stalls were in charge of 
the women, those selling the silks and lace jewelry 
being again decidedly attractive young women. Of 
a dignified oriental refinement and picturesque in 
their highly colored, but tasty costumes, they con- 
trasted strangely with the women seen in India. The 
skirts of the Burmese are made close fitting, espe- 
cially about the hips, disclosing apparent good figures. 
Occasionally one would be seen before a small mirror 
arranging her hair, so neatly done up on top of her 
head. Nearly all occupied a reclining position in 
their stalls, until a prospective customer came within 
range when they would be quick to show their wares 
and endeavor to interest the customer. The silks were 
[ 111 ] 



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mostly high colored and cheap, though some of them 
were pleasing to the eye. 

Like all orientals the Burmese are great traders, 
and if the purchaser volunteers an offer of two-thirds 
or half the price asked he is very likely to get the arti- 
cle in question. The Burma ruby mines are not a 
great distance from Mandalay, hence there are a 
number of ruby dealers in the city where one can buy 
that precious stone already cut down, or have them 
cut after purchase, or carry them away in the rough 
as disposed, and in either case liable to get the worst 
of a bargain. 

The Burmese are said to be the Irish of the east, 
being witty, and do not get out of the way of a scrap. 
Burma has about ten million population, its principal 
products being teak wood and rice and the rich ruby 
mines near Mandalay. 

Having spent two days in Mandalay and another 
night on the cars, we arrived back in Rangoon on the 
morning of March twenty-third. At one o'clock in 
the afternoon we were aboard the steamer Pentakota 
for the one thousand and eight knots voyage back 
across the Bay of Bengal to India, at Madras. For a 
hundred miles down the Rangoon River and through 
the Gulf of Martaban, the water was muddy until 
well along in the Bay of Bengal. Only about a dozen 
first-class cabin passengers were aboard, but eleven 
[ 112 1 



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hundred natives in the steerage made up a large pas- 
senger list. The natives in India and Burma seem to 
be great travelers, but for which the railways and 
steamships would have to go out of business. 

Summer in the orient was now well upon us and 
the temperature aboard the Pentakota during mid- 
day registered from eighty-five degrees to ninety-eight 
degrees in the shade during the voyage to Madras. 
The trip was uneventful as the few first-cabin passen- 
gers were uninteresting. Two American women, mis- 
sionaries, evidently were prosperous, since they ap- 
peared at dinner in different gowns each day. They 
stated their missions in Burma were in a flourishing 
condition and that besides running some kind of sup- 
ply store, and being self-sustaining as a misson, they 
had money to loan to the natives. The enterprise 
and thrift of these missionaries, we understood, was 
not looked on with favor by the natives, who feel 
that the province of missionaries is to make religious 
converts when possible, but not to come into com- 
petition with native tradesmen in a business way. 



113 



CHAPTER XI. 

BACK IN SOUTHERN INDIA, AT MADRAS, AND VISIT TO 
TRICHINOPOLI. 

At six 'clock on the morning of the twenty-seventh 
we steamed into the harbor of Madras, after a three 
days' and eighteen hours' voyage, and after the usual 
health inspection on board, we were allowed to go 
ashore. We were now about one thousand miles south 
of Calcutta. Madras, the third largest city in India, 
has five hundred and nine thousand population, and 
is scattered over so much territory that it is called the 
city of magnificent distances. 

As we were now in the extreme southern part of 
the country, the weather was as hot as the natives 
were dark skinned, — some of the latter being as black 
as darkest Africa. The city was the site of the earli- 
est East Indian Company settlement to which Queen 
Elizabeth granted a charter after it was founded in 
1629. The population is made up of more than four 
hundred thousand Hindus, about fifty thousand Mo- 
hammedans and about forty thousand Christians. 
Madras is a city of importance, commercially, its ex- 
ports consisting chiefly of hides, coffee, oil, seeds, cot- 
ton, and cotton piece goods, the latter aggregating 
[1141 



DOING OVER. 

five hundred lahhs {lakh is a hundred thousand ru- 
pees) per annum. It imports seven hundred and fifty 
lahhs — chiefly cotton piece goods, grain, metals and 
kerosine oil. The manufacture of cigars is carried 
on extensively, the tobacco being Indian or Philip- 
pine, the latter called Manila tobacco. A fairly com- 
fortable hotel and restaurant, conducted by an Italian, 
and nicely located, left us no reason to complain of 
our fare for the short visit of one day. The Marina, 
or seashore drive, is one of the principal features of 
the city. The Roman Catholic church of St. Thome 
is said to be built over the remains of St. Thomas, a 
few steps leading down to the tomb. 

Early in the evening on the day of our arrival in 
Madras we boarded train for the two hundred and 
seventeen mile run by rail to Tan j ore and where we 
arrived at five o'clock the next morning. The city, 
which has sixty thousand population, like many others 
in India, has but one or two attractions, the princi- 
pal one here being the Great Pagoda or temple 
(Hindu). This temple, built entirely of granite, has 
many statues and carvings on pillars and elsewhere, 
some of them massive and betray (as does the archi- 
tecture more or less all through India) an artistic 
taste greatly in contrast with the almost naked, un- 
artistic-looking natives seen on all sides. The largest 
Nandi (sacred bull) in India is here in one solid piece 
F115 1 



DOING OVER. 

of black granite, being twelve feet ten inches high, 
set upon a platform. As is customary in Hindu tem- 
ples, the one in Tanjore is inside two enclosures. The 
entrance to the outer enclosure is under a gopura 
ninety feet high, thence along a passage one hundred 
and seventy feet long to the second gopura of 
smaller dimensions. From the latter, finally, the outer 
enclosure to the temple is entered, being in extent 
four hundred and fifteen by eight hundred feet and 
surrounded by cloister chapels, each containing a large 
lingam. While allowed to walk well around this en- 
closure, entrance to the temple proper, or even to the 
halls of approach, were forbidden us, these being too 
sacred for any but Hindus. Several shrines inside 
the temple grounds are of artistic merit, especially 
that of the Shrine of Kartikkeya, the son of Shiva and 
deity of war, who is looked upon by the Brahmans as 
their especial protector. 

Tanjore, at time of our visit, is said to have had 
but two vehicles that could be used for driving about 
and as both had been previously engaged we were 
required to walk a mile or more in the dust, of a 
reddish hue, and a hot sun, in a visit to the Palace 
of the Princess of Tanjore, located inside the great 
fort. The palace, a very large, unsightly building of 
stone and plaster, contains in its library a collection 
of eighteen thousand Sanscrit manuscript, of which 
[116 1 



DOING OVER. 

eight thousand are written upon palm leaves. This 
library is said to date from the end of the sixteenth 
century. Between the excessive heat and red dust of 
Tanjore, we all looked more or less like we had been 
smeared over with red paint before we had finished 
sight-seeing. It was now about ten o'clock, when, 
aboard cars, we started for Trichinopoli, seventeen 
miles away. Tanjore was the scene of the earliest 
Protestant (German Lutheran) missionaries in India, 
early in the eighteenth century. 

Trichinopoli has about one hundred thousand pop- 
ulation, including innumerable naked children. These 
latter, however, like children the world over, appear, 
in their play, to be oblivious of what the future has 
in store for them, seemingly caring not whether they 
ever will wear more than the string which some of the 
boys have around their little black, though dirty,, 
loins, while the naked little girls have what appeared 
to be a silver ornament hung to a string, and all in- 
tended as a fig leaf covering. Many of the children,, 
from four or five years down, did not wear a shred 
of anything. All through India, except in the north- 
ern part, the same conditions prevail to a more or less 
extent. 

The several interesting sights in Trichinopoli are 
the Rock, the Great Temple of Sri Rangam and the 
Temple of Jambukeshwar. The Rock, which is a 
r 117 1 



DOING OVER. 

short distance from the city, towers about two hun- 
dred and thirty-five feet above the surrounding level, 
and on top of which is a small temple. All day 
devout Hindus are seen wending their w^ay up the two 
hundred and ninety very steep steps, and then some 
more to the pinnacle of the Rock, where the temple 
is located. Steps lead up to the latter from a platform 
surface upon the Rock and which is the nearest ap- 
proach allowed any but Hindus. From the platform 
is obtained a good view of the city and surrounding 
country, the latter flat except for the mountains in 
the distance, and several other rocks which stand out 
boldly against a clear sky. The approach to the Rock 
temple is by a covered passage on the sides of which 
are stone elephants and pillars, the latter about eight- 
een feet high. The pillars of granite have carved cap- 
itals, representing the lion of the south, and various 
figures of men and women. On the day of our visit 
we saw men, women, boys and girls going up and 
down the steps, some of the boys carrying up brick, 
and the poor little fellows looked very much over- 
worked. 

The steps leading up into the Rock was the scene, 
in 1849, of a frightful disaster. A vast throng had 
assembled to worship the god Ganesh, here called 
Pilliar, or The Son. A panic arose and in the crush 
upon the steep two hundred and thirty-five steps five 
[118] 



DOINa OVER. 

hundred people are said to have been killed. Trich- 
inopoli was the scene, also, of British and French 
conquest. The latter in a night attack upon the fort, 
in 1753, having entered the outer line of fortifications, 
came unsuspectingly upon a pit thirty feet deep into 
which many of the French soldiers fell, either losing 
their lives in the fall or at the hands of the natives, 
by whom they were taken prisoners. Warfare in 
those days was no more play than it is in these mod- 
ern times of man-killing machine armament. 

The real attraction of Trichinopoli is the Great 
Temple of Sri Rangam, one of the largest in India, 
the outer enclosure to which is two thousand five hun- 
dred by two thousand nine hundred and ninety feet. 
The entrance is through a gateway forty-eight feet 
high, which appears to have been built as the base of 
a great gopura. The sides of the passage are lined 
with pilasters, ornamented, the passage being about 
one hundred feet long and the inner height about 
forty feet. Great manoliths have been used as up- 
rights in the construction, some of them over forty 
feet high. The stones upon the roof, laid horizontally, 
are also huge, the largest about thirty feet long, four 
and one-half feet broad and eight feet thick. How 
these immense stones were placed in their high posi- 
tion is a mystery. A second enclosure, about twenty 
feet high, surrounds the dwellings of the Brahmans 
[119 1 



DOING OVER. 

in the service of the temple. As elsewhere, so here, 
admittance to the second enclosure where the temple 
is located is forbidden all but Brahmans. In the court 
around the inner enclosure amongst other attractions 
is the so-called Hall of One Thousand Pillars. The 
latter are of granite, about eighteen feet high, with 
carvings of men upon rearing horses, spearing tigers, 
the horses' feet supported by the shields of men on 
foot beside them. While it is said no longer to con- 
tain a thousand pillars, the Hall has enough of them 
left to keep one counting a long time if bent upon 
knowing how many still remain. The Temple of 
Jambukeshwar is much smaller than that of Sri Ean- 
gam, and though it has three courts is unattractive 
and apparently neglected. Tired almost beyond the 
interesting point over Hindu temples, after having 
seen them all through India, during our travels of 
forty-five days, we were glad to again enter the train 
for the run of ninety-six miles to Madura, where we 
arrived early on the next morning, March twenty- 
ninth. 

This city has a population of one hundred and six 
thousand, and though tired of seeing Hindu temples, 
the Great Temple of Madura awakened in me the live- 
liest interest. It is the largest, and likely the most 
gorgeous in architecture, of any Hindu temple in 
India, and like so many others is difficult of detailed 
[120] 



DOING OVER. 

description. The Great Temple enclosures have nine 
gQpuras, the largest being one hundred and fifty- 
two feet high. Though built early in the seventeenth 
century, the building was being added to and eu' 
larged at the time of our visit. Built entirely of gran- 
ite, innumerable pillars of monolithic size carved with 
many figures are seen on all sides. Because of excep- 
tional privilege, the traveler is here allowed to visit 
all of the outer courts and corridors up to the doors 
of the two adyta (secret apartments of a temple). 
Many shrines were seen, with worshipers offering 
ghi (clarified butter made into a kind of oil), which 
seemed to be smeared all around the shrines. The 
dark corridors, leading around through the temple, 
obscured a proper view or entirely hid many carvings 
of undoubted merit. So vast seemed the temple that 
days might be consumed in a thorough scrutiny of 
its make-up. At times the place had a weird appear- 
ance, for in some of the dark places only a faint 
flickering light from an oil lamp at some one or 
other of the shrines, made it just possible to find 
one's way around. A goodly number of deities are 
included with the other decorations. The temple con- 
sists of two parts, one to Minakshi, the fish-eyed god- 
dess, the consort of Shiva, the other to Shiva. The 
entrance to the temple is through the gate of Minak- 
shi 's Temple, along a corridor thirty feet long, called 
[121] 



DOING OVER. 

the Hall of Eight Lakshmis, from eight statues of 
that goddess which form the supports of the roof on 
either side, under which are dealers whose wares are 
largely made up of offerings to the gods and which 
worshipers buy on their way to the temple. On the 
right of the gateway is an image of Subrahmanya or 
Kartekkeya, the Hindu Mars. On the left is an image 
of Ganesh (the god of intelligence, part man with the 
head of an elephant). Inside the temple is a tank or 
pool, called the Tank of the Golden Lilies, which is a 
pool of stagnant water, but holy from the Hindu 
point of view. Around the tank runs an arcade on the 
walls of which are crude paintings of the most famous 
pagodas of India. On one side is the belfry, with, a 
bell of fine tone and of American manufacture. Too 
numerous to mention are the decorations and carvings 
of deities, but all of which, in solid granite, are very 
meritorious in workmanship. 

As we proceeded on our visit we came upon the 
Hall of One Thousand Pillars. Many of the latter 
are hidden from view, the space between them hav- 
ing been bricked up to form graneries for the temple. 
There are said, however, to be nine hundred and 
ninety-seven pillars, by actual count, and all are elab- 
orately and marvelously carved. The founder of the 
temple is here represented sitting gracefully upon a 
rearing horse, behind him are a number of male and 
[122 1 



DOING OVER. 

female deities dancing, and in all making up an at- 
tractive granite picture. 

Next in importance of the sights in Madura is the 
New Gallery, known as Tirumala's Choultry (a Hindu 
inn) and built (1625 to 1645) by him for the presid- 
ing deity of the place, Sundareshwar (Shiva) who, 
according to Hindu belief, paid him (Tirumala) a 
ten days' visit yearly. The hall, three hundred and 
thirty-three by one hundred and five feet, has four 
rows of pillars supporting a flat roof. A statue of 
Tirumala has a canopy over it with several figures at 
his back, one of them his wife, the Princess of Tan- 
jore. Illustrative of the Hindu idea of things, there 
is here a singular group representing one of the no- 
bles shooting a wild boar and sows, when, the legend 
says, Shiva, with pity for the litter of little pigs, took 
them up in his arms, and assuming the shape of a 
sow, suckled them. 

Tirumala's Choultry, the New Gallery, is said to 
have cost about five million dollars. The visit to 
Madura was completed by a visit to the Palace of 
Tirumala Nayak (now used for public offices), an 
attractive building, though in its restoration made to 
look very modern in appearance. An open court in 
the centre, with plants and flowers, adds to the at- 
tractiveness of the place. Though the immense col- 
umns supporting the roof are said to be rough gran- 
[123 1 



DOING OVER. 

ite, they have been covered with plaster. On one side 
of the court stands the Celestial Pavilion, formerly 
the throne room of the palace, then there is an ar- 
caded octagon covered by a dome sixty feet in diame- 
ter and seventy-five feet high. On the other side is the 
Hall, corresponding with the Diwan-i-Khas and 
Diwan-i-Am of Mohammedan palaces, the only one 
of its kind of Hindu origin that we had seen in India. 
The Hall is one hundred and twenty-five feet long, 
sixty-five feet wide, and its height to the centre of 
the roof is seventy feet, and of Gothic style. The pal- 
ace is said to be one of the finest public buildings in 
India. 

Our visit of sight-seeing in India ended here and 
at noon, March twenty-ninth, when, again boarding 
the cars, we started for the hundred mile run for 
Tuticorin, our jumping off place at the most extreme 
southern point of India. 



124 



CHAPTER XII. 

A RESUME OF THE TRIP THROUGH INDIA. 

At four o'clock, soon after our arrival in Tuti- 
corin, we went aboard ship for the one hundred and 
ten mile trip across the Gulf of Manar to Colombo, 
Ceylon, a one night's voyage. 

Tuticorin is a seaport city of no special interest. 
A coincidence of the run through the place was the 
chance meeting of an American, whose wife I had 
met in previous years. At the request of a niece, at 
home, I had made several efforts, though unsuccess- 
ful, to locate the parties while in Bombay, at which 
place they resided. I had thus met the husband in 
the last moments of my visit in India instead of at 
entry into the country, as had been hoped for. A 
good deal more time might well, and should have 
been spent in some of the cities visited in India, and 
to visit other points of interest which we had not; 
as it was, however, my interest throughout, except for 
occasional flickerings, was keyed up to a high pitch. 
There was a constantly varying change of things and 
scenes, to keep up the liveliest interest, even in antici- 
pation of the sights as they followed in order. The 
frequent short side trips away from the railways al- 
[125 1 



DOING OVER. 

ways assured new experiences. "We had visited twenty- 
eight cities, besides a number of out of the way places, 
such as the Khyber Pass, Hampi, and others, and 
had traveled five thousand five hundred miles by rail 
in India, besides about one hundred miles in native 
vehicles of various kinds to suburban and out of the 
way places. Forty-five days were consumed, begin- 
ning February second to March sixteenth, Bombay to 
Calcutta, and again March twenty-seventh to twenty- 
ninth, Madras to Tuticorin. The days between March 
sixteenth and twenty-seventh had. been taken up in 
the trip to and from Burma back to India at Madras. 

As a resume of my observations of the peoples and 
habits of India, the women, for instance, of modest 
behavior, count for infinitely worse than nothing. For 
neither Hindu nor Mohammedan woman is there any 
heavenly hereafter from the Hindu or Mohamme- 
dan point of view. No work is too mean for the 
Hindu woman, who is required, besides other menial 
labor, to gather the manure from the streets and else- 
where, which is mixed with some little straw into 
cakes and then peddled by them about the streets 
for fuel. This applies, of course, to the poor classes. 
The cast feature, with the Hindus and the Mohamme- 
dan fanaticism, keeps their women in the background 
and from association or attention of any kind from 
the foreigner. Both Hindu and Mohammedan fallen 
[126 1 



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women would be shunned by native men, if not 
killed, for any familiarity with foreigners. 

The Parsee women seem to be the only ones of 
the natives who are allowed the freedom of appearing 
upon the streets unaccompanied, though even these, 
when with their husbands, appear to keep somewhat 
behind him when walking. While the Hindu religion 
is said to have much of licentiousness connected with 
it, their women are well behaved to all outward ap- 
pearances. The women in India are the savings banks 
of the family, in that whatever money (in coin) can 
be saved is pounded into jewelry, either for finger, 
ear, nose or toe rings, bracelets or anklets. In conse. 
quence all through India the women and even young 
girls are se^n thus decorated. Occasionally one of the 
wealthier girls would be seen with a diamond sol- 
itaire as a nose ring. Many of the women are of good 
figures, and pleasing, even handsome, features, while 
many of the men, even of the poorer classes, are of 
good physique and features as well as of dignified car- 
riage. The country is full of hahoos (natives with 
English education for clerkships) and as there are 
not enough positions to go around, many a 5a6oo is 
a useless ornament, for once they have a little learning 
they will no longer do ordinary work. Many a native 
father economizes and stints himself and family that 
he may educate his boy or boys, the latter thereafter 
[127] 



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being of little or no use either to themselves or the 
parents. The laundering of India is a crude institu- 
tion, the clothes being simply beaten down on rocks 
in some stream, resulting disastrously, especially to 
the fine clothes of foreigners. Needless to say the 
process does not result in very clean linen, notwith- 
standing the hard beating, for little or no soap is used. 
Cleanliness is not amongst the virtues of the inhab- 
itants. Thousands of the natives probably never saw 
a bed or know what they are like, and thousands of 
the poor fellows sleep on the sidewalks around rail- 
way stations, simply wrapping themselves in their 
dirty blanket, or covering of whatever kind, even to 
covering their heads completely, and thus huddled, go 
to sleep. Such sleepers can be seen beginning with 
Bombay until coming out at Calcutta, or other port 
cities. The natives are great travelers in their own 
country, and every passenger train is largely made 
up of third-class coaches, with only one or two com- 
bination first- and second-class coaches. At every sta- 
tion of any consequence there seemed to be hordes of 
natives getting on and off the cars, and while they 
are running to and fro trying to get into some one of 
the compartments the noise they make sometimes sug- 
gests the breaking loose of bedlam. During our night 
rides in sleepers, the noise of the natives did not add 
to our ofttimes already perturbed temper, because 
[128 1 



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the trips usually began at a late hour, or we were to 
arrive at our destination at a very early hour, hence 
only a few hours for sleep. Invariably, too, if we 
stopped at a station where meals were served, it mat- 
tered not, any hour between five and seven o'clock in 
the morning, or later, if we were asleep one of the 
attendants would pound on our compartment door 
until it was opened, when we were asked if we desired 
cJiota hazrai (tea and toast). Because of the latter 
and general custom in India, whether on the cars or 
in hotels, we ate about five times each day during 
the entire trip. Except when in out of the way places 
and sometimes on the trains, when required to resort 
to our tiffin basket for canned eatables, the meals 
throughout India, in the railway stations or hotels, 
were invariably the same, being prepared for the 
English taste — roast beef and mutton, boiled cabbage 
and potatoes, rice currie, chicken and soup. All the 
beef and mutton for the orient, especially that dom- 
inated by Britain, comes from Australia and is none 
too tender. That we were tired of the food long be- 
fore we finished India can well be imagined. As at 
home, when traveling, one meets some strange people. 
In Bombay, I met, at the hotel, a gruff American who 
was damning everything and everybody in India, be- 
cause he did not find all the conveniences to which 
he believed himself entitled. That individual would 
9 r 129 1 



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have changed all the customs, the weather, and every- 
thing in India if his cursing could have brought it 
about. The English appear to be the best travelers, 
as I fear the Americans to be the poorest; the latter 
are too often noisy, ill-behaved, and feel that because 
they have the price they should be given the impos- 
sible, and all other privileges. 

Another character was an American, a New Yorker, 
who was almost deaf, in very delicate health, and 
traveling alone, except for what seemed to be a dozen 
small bundles, including an ordinary bandbox. All 
these, of course, had to be handled over and over 
again in his round. However, he was a very nice fel- 
low and though a hardship to carry on conversation 
with, because of his defective hearing, had re- 
deeming qualities in that he was much traveled, well 
read, and a gentleman. We met him several times 
in India and also had him as a fellow passenger on 
board the ship, Colombo to Singapore, and again to 
Java. Going into the harbor at Batavia, Java, I 
missed him for some little time and upon investigation 
found him in his room, the poor fellow being doubled 
up in bed, because some Dutch sausage he had eaten at 
dinner seemed bent on taking up a permanent resi- 
dence in his stomach. Calling the doctor of our party, 
he, with the aid of some ejective, soon had the unwel- 
come, as well, perhaps, as unwholesome, sausage in- 
[130] 



DOING OVER. 

truder turned out. We saw no more of the fellow 
after we had gone ashore at Batavia, and I have often 
wondered whether he ever reached his New York 
home alive. 

Another queer character, also a New Yorker, an 
elderly one, whom we first met aboard the ship, Co- 
lombo to Singapore, and several times thereafter, 
finally in Yokohama. On my first meeting the fellow 
he wished to know something of our trip through 
India, and having told him, amongst others, of our 
visit to the Khyber Pass, he expressed great interest 
therein. That he was greatly interested in the Pass 
is evidenced by his prompt promise to himself that he 
would some day visit it, and each time thereafter when 
we met, he would say, ' ' I certainly will some day visit 
that Kybeer Pass (Khyber Pass) you were telling me 
of." At Yokohama he happened to come into the 
hotel to register while we were at the desk, and loudly 
called to the clerk that he wanted a good room for 
he was one of the regular customers. He had been: 
there once before, some eighteen years ago. As the 
world is full of queer people, a proportionate number 
of them are necessarily met with in traveling. 

A certain Lady W , an English woman, showed 

a good deal of preference for one of our party, and of 
which she made no secret ; the fact is our friend was 
good company, a discovery which Lady W was 

ri3ii 



DOING OVER. 

not long in making. Like most English people, she 
had done considerable traveling, and referred to the 
fact that she had grown-up children. 

Referring again to our servant guide in India, Sam 
was not only a character, but a rascal as well, with 
all of his claimed twenty-two years' guide record. 
He seemed to know every place in India, and to be 
familiar with all of the claimed seventy different 
races, dialects and languages wherever we traveled. 
On occasions, if not interfered with, he would beat 
the poor coolies very roughly in order to show his 
authority. As in other oriental countries, the guide 
in India gets a rake-off on all purchases of the tour- 
ist, and Sam got his on everything from a cup of tea 
and toast up. We discovered, finally, the rascal had 
even charged us a profit on his outlay of money to 
pay coolie hire, and from his frequent quarrels with 
the poor fellows he probably also charged them a com- 
mission. Their remonstrance was sufficient reason 
for Sam to treat them roughly. A part of Sam's 
duty was to awaken us in time to leave the train in 
•our night rides by rail. On several occasions, because 
Sam was asleep, we narrowly missed being carried 
past our destination, which was only averted by one 
or the other of our party awakening by chance. On 
one occasion Sam called us two hours ahead of time 
(about two o'clock in the morning), and when his at- 
ri32 1 



DOING OVER. 

tention was called to the fact innocently remarked 
that we would now have ample time in which to get 
ready. At another time when he failed to call ns, we 
were entering the station of one of our stop-overs, 
when one of our party happened to awaken. The hur- 
ried and indiscriminate toilet which we made on that 
occasion, and the packing up of our bedding to avoid 
being carried past, would have made an interesting 
picture for a cinometograph. Needless to say Sam 
received a volley of reprimands for his neglect in 
this instance. 

A party of three or four traveling together in India 
can invariably get a compartment to themselves, if 
reservation is asked for of the station master in ad- 
vance. An occurrence, as the result of our wiring 
ahead on the first trip out from Bombay, proved help- 
ful all through India — one of our party having wired 
ahead for reservation for our party added his profes- 
sional title to his signature. Later, upon the arrival 
of the train, which was to take us further on our 
trip, the compartment assigned us had the usual card 

reservation on it, but made out to Major E and 

party. Our friend's professional title had thus been 
changed to a military one. From our use a few times, 
immediately thereafter, of the new title out of devil- 
try, habit soon followed and later it became natural 
when ordering railway compartment reservations, 
r 133 1 



DOING OVER. 

The title had proven a guarantee of best attention to 
onr party. It was only when onr visit to India was 
nearly completed that we learned there were a number 

of Major E 's in the service there, hence possibly 

the attention shown us. 

However, we found those connected with the rail- 
way service in India, whether Englishmen or natives, 
to be invariably courteous in every respect, and in 
great contrast with so many of the railway employes 
at home. 

The money of the country is made up as follows: 
Twelve cowrie shells, one pie; twelve pies, one anna; 
sixteen annas, one rupee. The value of a rupee is 
equal to about thirty-three cents in our money, while 
the pie would be worth about one-sixth of our penny. 
The cowrie shell has no intrinsic value, except that 
because of the extreme poverty in India a purchasing 
power is given them for the very poor, to whom the 
spending of a pie or anna would be in the nature of 
extravagance. The pies and annas are of copper, 
while the rupee is silver. There is an Indian gold 
coin, the mohur, of the value of about sixteen rupees, 
and though no longer in circulation is used when it 
can be bought as a souvenir, and commands a pre- 
mium because of its scarcity. Paper money is issued 
in denominations from five rupees up, and suffers a 
discount outside the district where issued. The gold 
[134] 



DOING OVER. 

coin in use is the English pound and half pound. Of 
the Aboriginese we saw but few, and they were as pic- 
turesque in dress and jewels as few in numbers. They 
are said to be more numerous in southern than north- 
ern India, from which point they had been driven 
southward in centuries past. Not unlike the gypsies 
of Europe, those of India prefer the mountainous 
country for their homes. 

The punkah is one of the great inventions of the 
country and takes the place of the electric fan in 
modern countries. But for the punkah many days 
and nights would be unbearably hot, to say nothing of 
its usefulness over a dining room table to keep flies 
from one 's diet. The chewing of the betel nut by na- 
tive men and women is equally filthy or perhaps more 
so, than the tobacco chewing in America. Made of 
the betel leaf with the nut ground up, and mixed with 
a small quantity of shell lime, it discolors the mouth 
and teeth a dark red, the expectorant being of the 
same color. India has a number of flower-bearing 
trees, one a beautiful wax-like flower v/ith sweet aroma 
is frequently met with. An acacia tree with a light 
red flower in greatest profusion is very attractive. 
The trip through India is more or less of necessity 
a hurried one because of the absence of hotel accom- 
modations in most places. Hence, under the circum- 
stances, once the sights in a place have been seen, 
[135] 



DOING OVEE. 

where no sleeping accommodations were to be had 
except in the railway stations or a bungalow, the dis- 
position was to hurry on to the next place, hopeful 
for better comforts. Ofttimes, however, we went from 
poor accommodations to worse. Our railway journeys 
were timed for night runs whenever possible, because 
of the otherwise greater discomforts. 

The spelling and pronunciation of names in India 
is by far not the least of the many problems of that 
interesting country, and yet, if spelled in any one of 
several ways to sound as pronounced there, one is 
very likely to have spelled them correctly. Many of 
the names of places are officially spelled in several 
different ways. 



136 1 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ISLAND OF CEYLON AND THE CITIES OF COLOMBO 
AND KANDY. 

On the morning of March thirtieth at eight o'clock, 
we steamed into the harbor of Colombo, Ceylon, 
after a fifteen hours' trip across the Gulf of Manar, 
from Tuticorin. 

India was now a pleasant, interesting recollection. 
The weather, that universal condition of comfort or 
discomfort, was, at time of our visit to Colombo and 
Ceylon, about as unfriendly as could be. Hot, humid 
and rainy, but we were now within five degrees of the 
equator, hence the best must be made of the condi- 
tions. Exertion was not necessary to produce dis- 
comforting perspiration. Our duck suits were now 
more needed than in India to minimize the discom- 
fiture and for every short distance one takes a jin- 
rikisha, which are very numerous in Colombo. The 
one hundred and fifty-six thousand population of this 
city is made up of one thousand two hundred Euro- 
peans, twenty thousand Cingalese, many Moors and 
Tamils, some Hindus, and others. The Cingalese (also 
spelled Cinhalese) men are clearly distinguishable by 
[137 1 



DOING OVEE. 

the large tortoise shell comb worn upon top of their 
heads. 

The city has the appearance of thrift; the build- 
ings, though of European architecture, are not start- 
ling in either beauty or elegance. There are a larger 
number of fairly good hotels than in Bombay or Cal- 
cutta. The Galle Face Hotel, well away from the 
centre of the city and located on the beach, is the 
most modern and perhaps the most popular. Making 
use of two letters of introduction which I had on res- 
idents here, our party was dined at The Club, made 
up of Englishmen. 

The cost of living in Colombo is high. The city is 
important as a port from which is shipped the one 
hundred and fifty million pounds of tea raised on the 
island, and in addition some coffee, many cocoanuts, 
cardamoms (of which ten thousand acres are under 
cultivation), cinnamon, rubber, plumbago and vari- 
ous other things. As the pearl oyster beds are not 
far away, great numbers of pearls are sold here, be- 
sides sapphires (from Ceylon mines) and other pre- 
cious stones. The precious stone and pearl trade 
seems to be largely in the hands of the Mohammedans 
(mostly Moors). The curios on sale come mainly 
from Japan and Germany, As in India, Colombo and 
Ceylon are full of crows. In the hotel Galle Face a 
printed notice posted in all the rooms warns the 

r 138 1 



DOING OVER. 

guests against leaving small jewelry exposed in the 
rooms lest they be carried away by the crows. The 
latter are perched on trees close to the hotel and do 
not hesitate to fly into one's room, especially if any 
eatables are left there, and if one leaves the room 
but for a single moment and returns, he is almost 
sure to disturb a thieving crow. 

Colombo has no sights of especial interest, except 
for several small quaint Hindu temples, though a 
drive for some three or four miles along which the 
trees are mainly cocoanut proved a pleasant one. The 
natives, as seen along this drive, do not appear to en- 
joy any different comfort or luxuries than do the 
same classes in India or Burma. However, we saw no 
distressing sights, and the Ceylonese seemed happy, 
as they likely are indolent. The latter surely exists 
if the temperature has any influence. 

On April second, we left Colombo for Kandy, 
seventy-eight miles up country, and two thousand feet 
above the sea. Kandy, which has twenty thousand 
people, is beautifully situated, and is one of the two 
popular mountain resorts for the Colomboans. A 
very picturesque lake with its surrounding scenery, 
and the temperature, are the inviting features of the 
place, and is ideal for a short visit for tourists. The 
country between here and Colombo is a heavily wooded 
jungle, luxuriant with green foliage. 
[139] 



DOING OVEE. 

The jungles of Ceylon are said to contain a great 
many elephants. Many of these beasts are shipped to 
the outer world. The inhabitants of Ceylon, about 
three million five hundred thousand, are said to be 
largely Buddhists. 

In a small temple in Kandy, the Buddhists claim 
to have one of Buddha 's teeth, and which is, of course, 
greatly cherished. The claim is made that the temple 
did once contain a tooth of Buddha, but that at the 
time of a Portuguese conquest of the place, they (the 
Portuguese) carried the tooth away. The tooth that 
is now in the Kandy temple is claimed to be made of 
ivory and about an inch in length. A botanical gar- 
den here has a great collection of tropical plants and 
trees, including cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. 
Some of the plants and trees were brought from other 
parts of the world, notably South America. From 
Kandy, after a two days' visit, we went to Newara 
Eliya, six thousand feet up on the mountain and 
about seventy-five miles from Kandy. The tempera- 
ture, though much lower than at Colombo, was never- 
theless more or less sultry as at Kandy. Rain fell the 
most of the time of our two days' visit. It is claimed 
that rain falls two hundred and twenty-seven days 
out of the year in Newara Eliya. Its situation, while 
not so picturesque as Kandy, is beautiful. About 
twelve miles away is where some five thousand Boer 
[140 1 



DOING OVER. 

prisoners had been brought. An interesting sight 
here is a tea plantation and factory. The plantation 
was full of tea pickers, girls and women. Only the 
small young tea sprouts are taken, and have four 
leaves usually, hence four grades of tea. The young- 
est of the leaves, when blended wdth that next to it, 
makes the highest grade tea. The process of prepar- 
ing the tea for market takes from three days to a 
week, depending upon the weather conditions. Dry 
weather is best. The leaves when first picked are al- 
lowed to wilt, then are ground for the purpose of curl- 
ing them; thereafter the small leaves are separated 
from the larger through a sieve, followed by a short 
fermenting period, then a drying process by artifi- 
cial heat at a temperature of two hundred degrees, 
and finally again separated and packed for the mar- 
ket. The best quality is sold in Ceylon for about 
thirty cents (gold) per pound. Tea is grown in the 
hills only, and at Newara Eliya, six thousand feet up. 
The highest range of mountains in Ceylon, as I un- 
derstand it, are eight thousand five hundred feet. 

There is another botanical garden here which is 
extensive and beautiful. In the collection of flowers 
was included the American beauty rose. Here, also, 
I saw the camphor tree for the first time, as well as 
the fern tree, the latter growing to a height of twenty 
to thirty feet. The fern tree is said to grow in but 
[ 141 ] 



DOING OVEK. 

few parts of the world. About two days were spent 
in Newara Eliya, when we returned to Colombo. 

The railways in Ceylon are good, comparing with 
the best seen in India, both as to finish and comfort. 
The island of Ceylon has about twenty-five thousand 
square miles, is four hundred miles long by three hun- 
dred miles at its greatest width. Luxuriant foliage 
is seen on all sides. The inhabitants are not of start- 
ling interest and the women unattractive from my 
observation. 

The currency of the island is the rupee, not divided 
into annas, as in India, but into cents, one hundred 
of the latter to one rupee. 

Both the Portuguese and Dutch, in turn, have in 
the past made conquests of Ceylon. A likely result 
of the early Portuguese occupation is the large Roman 
Catholic population in Colombo. 

After another day spent in Colombo on our re- 
turn from Newara Eliya, on April eighth, at nine 
o'clock in the morning, we went on board the steamer 
Delhi, bidding Colombo and Ceylon a rather willing 
farewell, largely owing to the oppressive weather con- 
ditions. 

While we saw little of thrilling interest in our visit, 
the island is said to have some old Hindu and Bud- 
dhist temples well worth the time of looking up. 
These attractions are in out of way places, which 
[142 1 



DOING OVER. 

would require a more extended visit to Ceylon than 
our ten days. A very remarkable Buddhist temple 
at Matale is cut into solid rock. At Elahera are the 
head works of an ancient irrigation system of colos- 
sal dimensions. Then at Dambool there is a cave 
temple, and at Sigiri a rock fortress said to be almost 
impregnable. At Kalawewa is the Great Tank (res- 
ervoir) built about 460 A. D., with a contour of forty 
miles. This tank supplies water for a hundred vil- 
lages in its course to Anuradhpura, fifty miles away. 
Near the Great Tank is an enormous rock-cut stand- 
ing statue of Buddha, forty feet high. The statue is 
said to stand almost free from the rock from which 
it is carved, the right arm being raised and free from 
the body. The greatest interest in the island is at 
Anuradhpura, the once capital of Ceylon, beginning 
in the fifth century B. C, though now little less than 
a mass of ruins, as the result of early Tamil invasions 
and centuries of decay. The ruins include many da- 
gobas (pagoda), a bell shaped construction over some 
relic of Buddha or a disciple. As in Burma these 
dagobas are solid surmounted by a cubical structure, 
which in turn is topped by a lofty spire. These da- 
gobas date back to within several centuries of Bud- 
dha's time. Buddhist missionaries came early to Cey- 
lon, one of them, Mihintale by name, is said to have 
occupied the cell now known as Mihindo's Bed, a 
[143] 



DOINd OVER. 

stone couch hewn into rock. Innumerable monastic 
buildings are said to be scattered over the island, the 
most remarkable of which, called the Brozen Palace 
or monastery, built about 400 A. D., is said to contain 
one thousand six hundred stone pillars. Pocunas 
(bathing tanks, or tanks for the supply of drinking 
water) are said to be countless. A sacred Pipal or 
Bo tree is also one of the attractions, and said to have 
been originally brought from Buddh Gaya. Claimed 
to have been planted two hundred and forty-five years 
B. C, only a fragment now remains, however it has 
been uninterruptedly watched over all these centuries 
by Buddhist guardians. 
Curtain down on Ceylon. 



[144 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SEVEN DAYS ABOARD SHIP TO JAVA, THENCE TO SINGA- 
PORE. 

The voyage from Colombo (beginning April eighth) 
to Singapore, through the Indian Ocean and Malacca 
Strait, one thousand six hundred and seventy-five 
knots, was without unusual incident. It began to 
dawn on me, however, that I rather enjoyed life 
aboard ship, the lazy swaying motion of the vessel, 
the beauties of sky and water, the sunsets, the cloud 
effects, an occasional full moon and the starry skies. 
Our steamer for this voyage was the Delhi, whose gen- 
eral appointments were not overly comfortable for a 
hot climate, especially the inner staterooms. The 
seventy-eight first-cabin passengers were nearly all 
English. An American minister, his wife and sister- 
in-law proved agreeable traveling companions, the 
former very fond of sports and not at all reserved in 
disposition, took active part in all the deck games. The 
latter arranged for prizes, gave the lookers-on some 
good amusement, and the participants in the sport 
some pretty warm exercise. 

The weather continued hot and but little exercise 
was needed to bring on discomforting conditions. It 

10 r 145 1 



DOING OVER. 

was on this voyage that Lady W showed the pref- 
erence for one of our party and referred to in my 
resume of India. 

The third day out from Colombo, we passed the 
northern end of the Island of Sumatra, so close that 
the luxuriant vegetation could be made out through 
our field glasses. Each day of our tour eastward, the 
ship's clock continued to be set ahead from ten or 
fifteen to thirty or forty minutes, depending upon the 
distance voyaged. 

On the fourth day out from Colombo, we anchored 
in the bay at Penang on the Malay Peninsula and 
where we made a short stop, long enough for a four 
hours ' visit in the city. The botanical garden was the 
objective point of interest for the most of us, and 
while beautifully located, and with a good collection 
of plants and flowers, the weather was much too hot 
for exertion. Besides the natives, many Chinese are 
included in the population of the place. The city 
has a number of very good modern public buildings. 
No one seems to think of walking for even short dis- 
tances, and no need for it, since there are innumerable 
jinrikishas on all sides, with willing coolies to pull 
you around the place. Though the poor fellows are 
sometimes so covered with perspiration that their al- 
most naked bodies look as though drenched by water, 
they have no other means for making a living and they 
[146] 



DOING OVER. 

evidently want to live. Our visit in Penang was on 
Good Friday, April thirteenth. 

On the following morning we awakened to find our- 
selves in the harbor of Singapore, having made the 
voyage from Colombo in five days and fifteen hours. 
Having learned, soon after breakfast, that a Dutch 
steamer was about to sail for Java, we had ourselves 
and luggage transferred to that steamer without going 
ashore at Singapore. We, therefore, had before us 
another voyage of five hundred and thirty-two knots 
through the Java Sea to Batavia, Java, and which 
would take us across the equator, the latter being but 
about eighty miles south from Singapore. 

The weather conditions throughout this voyage were 
fairly comfortable considering the latitude. The De 
Carpentier, on which we were, was a small steamer 
of only about one thousand three hundred tons, but 
she rode the seas fairly well. Only a dozen first-cabin 
passengers were on board, amongst them our deaf 
New York friend, heretofore referred to, and who had 
also come from Colombo on the steamer Delhi. The 
steerage was full, largely of Chinese on their way to 
the island of Billiton to work in the tin mines. 

Billiton is one of the many Dutch East India is 

lands, from where comes a great deal of tin, said to 

be of highest grade. Innumerable are the islands 

passed in this voyage. The imaginary equatorial line 

[147 1 



DOING OVER. 

was passed on April fourteenth at eight o'clock in the 
evening, the first day out from Singapore. The sun 
at the equator rises at six o'clock in the morning and 
sets at six o'clock in the evening. Darkness sets in 
soon after sundown. The following day was Easter 
Sunday, though there was no pretense on the part of 
the ship 's officers to celebrate the day. The four hun- 
dred Chinese aboard, men and women, all of the coolie 
class, were well behaved, seemed happy, and they also 
appeared sturdy of physique. My own condition was 
getting in bad shape, for beginning with the voyage 
from Colombo, my stomach was acting badly, reflect- 
ing itself on the bowels. Visions of dysentery, so 
dreaded in that part of the world, began to loom up 
before me. None too good for me was the Dutch rice- 
tafle, served three times a day on the Be Carpentier. 
The rice-tafle is made up of rice, as its name would 
indicate, chicken in two or three different styles, beef 
in as many forms, some pork, added to which were a 
dozen or more condiments, consisting of grated cocoa- 
nut, onion, and many other things. On the evening 
of April sixteenth, at nine o'clock, after a fifty-eight 
hours' run from Singapore, we went ashore at Bata- 
via, welcomed by a drenching rain. 

Batavia proper is about ten miles from the har- 
bor, hence, after going through the customs house, we 
boarded the cars, and finally reached the railway sta- 
[148 1 



DOING OVER. 

tion at Batavia. The Hotel des Indes, for which we 
were booked, was well away from the station, and with 
the rain pouring as a cloudburst, with each member of 
our party in one of the small native dogcart-like ve- 
hicles, we made for the hotel, arriving there well 
drenched. 

The grounds around the hotel were covered with 
about six inches or more of water as a result of the 
rain. The hotel, the main part of which is of two 
stories, has scattered around it, over much ground, 
several annexes of one-story buildings. Our rooms in 
the main building were as large as they were also 
cheerless. It was already late, bed time, and with the 
rain unabated, all the other guests retired, we, too, 
turned in for the first night 's sleep in Java. So warm 
are the nights on the island that the beds are without 
covering, but a long roll pillow arrangement, called 
a ''Dutch wife," is supplied instead. The "Dutch 
wife" is placed between the legs and intended to ex- 
tend up over the abdomen to prevent taking cold in 
the bowels, and thus we slept the sleep of wearied 
travelers. The same arrangement as to bedding con- 
tinued throughout our visit in Java. One of the 
first needs in Java is to secure a passport; accord- 
ingly, on the following morning, we made an early 
call at the municipal office for that purpose. Appar- 
ently, a passport is made necessary, simply for the 
[149] 



DOING OVER. 

purpose of adding to the revenues of the island a fee 
equal to .about a dollar (gold) having been charged us. 

Batavia has a population of one hundred and eighty 
thousand, of whom about four thousand are Euro- 
peans, almost exclusively Dutch. The Dutch East 
Tndias for the Dutch, is said to be the policy of Hol- 
land, as is apparent even on a short visit in this part 
of the world. Batavia, though unattractive from an 
architectural point of view, was not without interest 
to me. Its buildings, needless to say, perhaps, are 
r?aodern rather than oriental, though they are neither 
particularly. The natives look more or less Malayan, 
though there are many Chinese. The latter here, as 
elsewhere, in that part of the world, are largely the 
trades people, so much so that we were informed that 
the Dutch government was arranging to drive the 
Chinese out of the islands. 

Wherever the Chinaman goes in considerable num- 
bers he soon develops his inherent qualities as a trades- 
man. Rice, coffee, some tea and fruits, are the prod- 
ucts of Java. The Java coffee, which I had previously 
pictured as the acme of that beverage, proved a dis- 
appointment to me in Java. Prepared and served 
cold, in the consistency thick enough to be a coffee 
essence, one was supposed to take but a little of it and 
fill the cup with hot milk. It proved a failure as a 
delectable drink from my point of view. Of the 

[ 150 ] 



DOING OVER. 

varied and new fruits of delicate flavor, I could in- 
dulge in but sparingly, because of the continued 
trouble with my stomach. This trouble was no doubt 
a reflex of the indiscriminate eating while going 
through India. Both here, and later in Singapore, 
aboard ship and elsewhere while in this part of the 
world, the mangosteen is much sought after by trav- 
elers, many of whom regard the fruit as the most 
delicious of any in the world. 

At Batavia we were about eight degrees below the 
equator, while the temperature was disagreeably 
humid. Owing to the fact that we could not secure 
passage back to Singapore on the Dutch mail steamer 
sailing in about ten days, we were required to engage 
passage on one of the same small freighters as brought 
us down, and which was booked to sail four days 
hence. Our visit to Java was thus cut down to almost 
nothing, much to our disappointment, but as we had 
not counted on an extended visit we made the best 
of it. On the afternoon, therefore, of the day follow- 
ing our arrival, we boarded cars for Buitenzorg, a 
three hours' ride up the country and somewhat up in 
the hills. The most luxuriant country in foliage was 
thus spread before our eyes, with rice growing, seem- 
ingly monopolizing cultivation. But little coffee was 
seen; that Liberian, the real Java, bean being grown 
in the eastern part of the island. 
[1511 



DOING OVEE. 

We arrived in Buitenzorg about five o'clock in the 
afternoon, in a drenching rain. Rain here falls so 
regularly between three and five o'clock that it is 
referred to in the very limited literature we had come 
across on Java. The railway service on the island is 
about like that in Ceylon. Aside from its picturesque 
situation, the main attraction in Buitenzorg is its 
botanical garden, which is said to be one of the best 
in the world. It is extensive in area and very attrac- 
tively laid out. 

Soekaboemi was our next objective point and where 
we arrived in the afternoon of the following day, 
again in a drenching rain, which lasted until ten 
o'clock. We were thus confined to the hotel which 
was beautifully situated. The bathhouse here was 
located some little distance from the hotel proper, 
necessitating one's going the full length of the 
grounds, and the bath is a function of greatest neces- 
sity in such a climate. The hotel like that at Bata- 
via and Buitenzorg, is made up of several buildings 
scattered over the grounds. The meals in Java con- 
tinued largely of the rice-tafle, heretofore referred to. 

Soekaboemi, situated about eight hundred feet above 
the sea, is a small place, largely a resort for Bata- 
vians desiring to get a slightly more agreeable tem- 
perature than at Batavia. Even at Soekaboemi, how- 
ever, the "Dutch wife" takes the place of bed cover- 
[152] 



DOING OVEE. 

ing. Except for its beautiful situation, the place had 
no retaining attractions, hence on the day following 
our arrival, we started for Bantoeng, two thousand 
five hundred feet up in the hills, and where we ar- 
rived at noon on April nineteenth. The temperature 
here was fairly comfortable, but the humid atmos- 
phere was always with us. 

On the train to Bantoeng, I conversed with a fel- 
low passenger, a professional man, who had at one 
time lived in Chicago, and through whose courtesy 
we were given the privilege of the local club. At the 
latter place in the evening we attended a concert, all 
those present sitting around tables drinking beer, and 
seemingly happy. The Dutch in Java seem both 
happy and healthful, more than is apparent of the 
English in India. The Dutch women in Java adopt, 
largely, the native style of dress, consisting of a light 
waist which hangs loosely, a skirt arrangement that 
apparently is not made up but just wrapped around 
the body, their stockingless feet being partly covered 
by a slipper. While these Dutch women looked im- 
maculately clean, their costume, to my eyes, conveyed 
a disposition to slovenliness. The most attractive 
women seen were the Eurasians (white father, native 
mother), of whom there are many in Java. These 
women, far from being ostracised from society as in 
India, are seemingly looked upon as the equals of 
[153 1 



DOING OVER. 

any, and from several instances which came under my 
observation the Dutch husbands of such wives re- 
garded them as unequaled. The Soendanese women 
of middle Java are said to be the handsomest women 
on the island. 

Bantoeng has an European population of two thou- 
sand, as against sixty thousand natives — Chinese and 
others. There is nothing of startling interest in the 
place, except that it is, perhaps, the most popular of 
the mountain resorts. "We were driven out about six 
miles to a small waterfall that is referred to by the 
towns people as well worth seeing, though to our party 
the drive out and back was the interesting feature. 

Holland seems to have the natives well under sub- 
jugation, as exemplified in the humility shown, es- 
pecially by the peasants and country folk. These sim- 
ple folk whom we met while driving to the falls, 
would, upon our approach, not only bare their heads, 
but bow low besides. 

On the evening of April twentieth, we returned to 
Batavia after a tiresome ride of six hours from Ban- 
toeng, a distance of one hundred and thirty-one miles 
— fare five dollars (gold). After a late dinner we 
attended a circus, said to be an American one. That 
it was a one-horse affair there was no question, though 
the admission price was rich, four guilders (one dol- 
lar and sixty-three cents). 

[154] 



DOING OVEE. 

The basis of money circulation is the guilder (equal 
to forty-one cents of United States money), one hun- 
dred cents to a guilder, made up in one-half cent and 
one cent copper coins, ten, twenty-five and fifty cents 
in silver. 

It was on our return to Batavia that we learned 
of the San Francisco earthquake, which had occurred 
that morning. Who can deny that news travels fast 
over the world these days? Shocking as was the 
news, we took comfort in the belief that the report 
had been greatly exaggerated. Later developments, 
however, showed how far the first reports had been 
from telling the full horrors of the calamity. 

Java and the East India Islands are a source of 
good revenue to Holland. The Dutch, who come here 
to live, learn to speak the native (Malay) tongue, un- 
like the English in India, few of whom, I understand, 
attempt the native languages, insisting, rather, that 
the natives learn English. Holland monopolizes with 
her marine the carrying business to and from her pos- 
sessions here. Though the Dutch are said not to care 
whether foreigners visit these islands or not, we met 
with invariable courteous treatment throughout our 
visit, as well as aboard ship to and from the island. 
Included in the island's population, besides the na- 
tives and Chinese, are some Arabs and Hindus. The 
[155] 



DOING OVEE. 

tipping system is not much in vogue in Java, and what 
little is done or expected, is from foreigners. 

Java still maintains a few native Sultans under 
Dutch control, but who have little or nothing to say 
in the administration of affairs. Some of the native 
tribes in the interior are said never to have been con- 
quered by Holland. The island is said to have some very 
interesting phenomena in nature, such as volcanoes. 
A short distance from Bantoeng may be seen geysers, 
which send up at short intervals hot, muddy, sour 
water ; also a milky colored boiling river of sulphuric 
acid water, and an active crater or two. Luxuriant 
foliage is seen on all sides from the time one sets 
foot upon the island until departing. Our visit to 
Java was unfortunately too short to be of absorbing 
or lasting interest. 

Aboard the steamer Van Authoorn at eight o'clock 
on the morning of April twenty-first we steamed out 
of the harbor of Batavia, passed an old gunboat or 
two (Holland's navy) on the return trip to Singa- 
pore. The voyage was an uneventful one. Another 
stop was made at Billiton Island, where a considera- 
ble cargo of tin ore and billets was taken on. It is 
stated that eight thousand or more coolies, mostly 
Chinese, are employed in the tin mines there. 
As against three thousand natives and Chinese 
in the place, there are but about thirty whites. The 
[156 1 



DOING^OVER. 

latter have a creditable club house, where two of our 
party were introduced and proved the first Americans 
to have registered since 1884. 

On the steamer with us was a Belgian, a Mr. G , 

manager of a rubber plantation on the island of 
Golang, where he said his company, in which the Bel- 
gian King is interested, has more than six hundred 
thousand rubber trees growing, and which are to be 

increased to a million. Mr. G claimed that trees 

should be from six to seven years old before tapped 
for rubber. If tapped much younger they do not 
last long. 

In the evening of April twenty-fourth, we finally 
went ashore at Singapore, after a tiresome voyage 
from Batavia. Singapore has a population of one 
hundred and fifty thousand, of whom about three 
thousand are Europeans, balance being largely Chi- 
nese and Malayans. This city is the important stop- 
ping point (second only to Hongkong) for all ves- 
sels from Europe and China, Japan, Australia or the 
States, the latter for vessels coming or going through 
the Suez Canal. Singapore is an open port (no im- 
port duty) and is about half way around the world 
from New York. Continued hot and sultry weather 
conditions were encountered, which, though we ought 
now to be used to them, were none the less op- 
pressive. 

[157] 



DOING OVEE. 

The Chinese are said to control the commerce of 
Singapore, and are here seen out driving in all the 
style and elegance of the foreigners. The city has 
some very creditable public buildings and hotels and 
good streets. We stopped at Raffle's Hotel, which 
furnished very fair service. It is owned by several 
Parsee brothers, who also control some of the hotels in 
India. Chinese, exclusively, are employed in hotels 
here, and as they do not understand English any too 
well, quite frequently bring a very different meal 
from, that ordered. 

Singapore is on a small island, which is about four- 
teen miles at its greatest width, and a narrow channel 
only one-half mile wide separates it from the main- 
land, the extreme southern portion of the Malay pen- 
insula. During our five days' visit in Singapore, we 
also went across to the mainland to visit the Sultan 
of Johore's Palace, the lower part of the Malay penin- 
sula comprising that potentate's domains. The lat- 
ter is but small and said to be not overly rich in pro- 
ductiveness. The Sultan, however, at the time of 
our visit, was said to be in Paris, living lavishly, while 
his poor subjects at home were required to live on next 
to nothing. This enforced economy was applied as 
well to wild beasts in captivity, for in the palace 
grounds four tigers, caged, looked starved. The at- 
tendants, being questioned on the subject, said they 
[158] 



DOING OVER. 

were allowed to give the beasts only small rations of 
food. The palace was not a thing of beauty, though 
it contained some beautiful ornaments, such as a cut 
glass bedstead, tables and vases. And in addition, 
in a vaulted room, there was quite a collection of silver 
ornaments, the gifts of English royalty. A mosque 
adjoins the palace, but like the latter it is of little 
beauty. 

Singapore is one of the three so-called Straits Set- 
tlements, the others being Penang and Malacca. The 
money of Singapore and Straits Settlements is the 
dollar of one hundred cents, equaling two shillings 
and four pence, or fifty-six cents in United States 
money. A pathetic sight is the red light district 
of Singapore, where many of the girls, still in short 
dresses, were Japanese. These are seen at night on 
the sidewalks in front of their homes. The laws for- 
bid them to come off the sidewalks, the populace the 
while taking to the streets. Of Europeans there are 
said to be but few in the district. No English woman 
is allowed there, however, the same regulations, it is 
claimed, keep them out of all such districts in the 
orient, over which Britain dominates. 



159 



CHAPTER XV. 

HONGKONG^ CANTON AND THE CANTONESE. 

On the afternoon of April twenty-ninth, at four 
o'clock, we boarded the steamer Dongola, of the P. & 
0. line, for the one thousand four hundred and forty 
miles' voyage up the China Sea to Hongkong. Of 
first-cabin passengers there were but forty with about 
a dozen in the second cabin. It will thus be seen 
that the English do not all fear the second cabin, the 
latter having about one-third as many as the first and 
all in both classes, except our party of three, being 
English. The Dongola is a sister ship to the Delhi, 
hence of the same uncomfortable accommodations. 
The meals continued to be roast beef, roast mutton, 
cabbage and boiled potatoes. 

After the Dongola had left Bombay, on this voyage, 
for Colombo, three cases of the plague developed. In 
consequence the passengers for the latter port were 
not allowed to go ashore there, but, instead, were car- 
ried to Penang about one thousand three hundred 
miles beyond their intended destination. In addition 
to the delay thus incurred, the Colombo passengers 
are said to have been charged for the unwilling voy- 
age to Penang, as they no doubt were also required 
[160] 



DOINa OVER. 

to pay passage back to Colombo. In all our hardships 
or discomforts of the tour, we luckily escaped any 
such experience. If any plague germs remained on 
the Dongola at the time we had come aboard her at 
Singapore, they did not appear in evidence in the voy- 
age to Hongkong. Plague aboard ship, and because 
one can not get far away from it, is not a comforting 
thing to contemplate. 

Life aboard the Dongola was much the same as we 
had been experiencing on other recent voyages — 
quiet; in consequence time began to drag some. The 
passengers, as previously stated, were almost exclu- 
sively English. Many of the latter in this tour from 
time to time we found very agreeable, notwithstand- 
ing their claimed coldness. That they are clanish, I 
believe, and I also believe the peoples of all nations 
to be likewise, the very natural consequence of na- 
tional relationship. 

After four days and sixteen hours of the Dongola 
and China Sea, we steamed into the harbor of Vic- 
toria (Hongkong) about nine o'clock on the morn- 
ing of May third, and were at last in China after four 
months of almost constant travel. 

A feeling of relief came over me, for some reason, 

as a consequence of our having reached China, and 

which I account for, perhaps, because of anticipated 

interest in the sights I believed to be in store for us. 

11 r 161 1 



DOING OVER. 

Then, too, we had from time to time during the trip 
while in India and other countries, read of Chinese 
massacres of foreigners, hence the question arose in 
our minds as to whether it would be safe to go ashore 
in China. 

Victoria, or Hongkong, as it is generally known, 
has a population of two hundred and seventy thou- 
sand, is a free port, and is located on the island of 
Hongkong. Of the population about six thousand 
are whites. The island belongs to Great Britain, hav- 
ing been ceded her by the Chinese as the outcome of 
the so-called opium war between Britain and China in 
1842. Located on the side of a hill, the latter about 
one thousand five hundred feet high, Victoria has a 
very picturesque situation. The foreign business 
quarters, confined to a very small area, because but 
little of the city is on flat ground and that reclaimed 
by filling in, has very creditable public buildings, 
including several very fair hotels — The Hongkong, 
The King Edward, and others. 

Our arrival in Hongkong was to me both a relief 
(in having distanced the tropical climates) and the 
beginning of a new interest. The latter was intensi- 
fied because of the frequent reports, during the pre- 
ceding months, that trouble was close at hand for 
all foreigners in China. Because of these reports, 
one of our first acts after landing in Victoria was to 
[162] 



DOING OVEE. 

see the American Consul, who assured us we could 
visit Canton (supposed to be the seat of hatred of for- 
eigners) with perfect freedom of mind as to safety. 

In Victoria the foreign residents live on top of and 
on the side of the hills overlooking the city, those 
well up on the hills being enveloped in the clouds 
most of the time, and during the whole of the time of 
our visit. The atmosphere in the city was of the low- 
est temperature since our leaving northern India, but 
as humid or more so than Calcutta or Colombo. Not 
only did the rooms at the hotels smell musty, but the 
bedding even seemed to exhale the smell and was cer- 
tainly very damp. 

An incline railway takes people to and from the 
hill-top, and at places is the steepest railway I recall 
having ever seen. The bay, from the hill, is very pic- 
turesque, including, also, many vessels, representing 
all parts of the world, besides some English warships. 
The commerce of Hongkong is said to equal that of 
Liverpool. During our visit to Victoria (broken by 
the trip to Manila), a letter of introduction from a 
friend at home, which I here presented to a Mr. 

R , resulted in a most pleasant afternoon and 

evening as the guests of that gentleman and his 
charming wife. A part of the entertainment was a 
ride in a launch, in which we went completely around 
the island of Hongkong (thirty miles), with the addi- 
[163 1 



DOING OVER. 

tion of a generous lunch. During the afternoon's 
ride, we unwittingly greatly disappointed our hostess, 
who had come prepared to go bathing, but not know- 
ing how very anxious she was to show us how well 
she could swim, and incidentally, perhaps, also to dis- 
play a shapely figure, none of our party enthused 
over the suggestion to go bathing. As a matter of 
fact, also, we had no bathing suits. In the evening, 

when guests at the home of the R 's, the truth of 

Mrs. R 's afternoon disappointment was made 

known when her disappointment and our regrets were 
drunk to. The evening proved a very pleasant one 
and continued into the very early next morning be- 
fore adieus were exchanged. 

On the day of our arrival in Victoria, at half -past 
ten in the evening, we went aboard the steamer Han- 
how (since destroyed by fire at her dock in Victoria, 
many natives losing their lives), and started for the 
one night's run of ninety-two miles up the Pearl 
River for Canton. Arriving at the latter place about 
six o'clock the next morning, our ears were greeted 
by the roar of cannon, a confusing incident. The 
Hankow had no sooner been fastened to the dock than 
she was boarded by Chinese, Canton guides importun- 
ing their employment to show us the sights of the 
city. Though still in our staterooms, with the shut- 
ters moved aside as we made our morning toilet, every 
F 164 1 



DOING OVER. 

few minutes a Chinese head would appear at the win- 
dow and ask "you wantee guide see Canton, me good 
guide, knowee Canton welly good." It seemed, from 
the number of these willing ones, that all Canton had 
turned guide. Of the lot, we finally employed one, 
Ah Cum, an old fellow of forty-six years' experience, 
dignified and courteous. 

The river above and below our landing was filled 
with sampans (native boats), each one of which con- 
tained one or more families. Half a million Can- 
tonese Chinese are said to live in these sampans and 
are an interesting group. Beginning very young, both 
the boys and girls make themselves useful with the 
oars, the latter being almost entirely manipulated by 
the women. As a considerable population also lives 
across the river from Canton, many of the sampans 
are used to ferry people to and fro. It was a very 
common sight to see a woman at an oar with an infant 
strapped to her back, the latter apparently not the 
least burdensome nor the infant unhappy. 

After breakfast, we started about eight o 'clock, with 
Ah Cum, to see the city. Carried in sedan chairs, 
which had been provided for the purpose, and with 
three coolies to a chair, we made quite a procession 
with Ah Cum in the lead. Ten minutes after having 
penetrated the narrow, crooked streets of six feet in 
width, running apparently in all directions, we were 
[165 1 



DOING OVER. 

as completely lost as if in a wilderness, except for our 
guide. Not a vehicle or animal, other than dogs or 
pigs, were to be seen, the latter invariably being car- 
ried to slaughter. The hog is the Chinese pet meat 
diet, of which they eat both the fresh and cured 
product the entire year. With a population variously 
estimated at from three-quarters of a million to three 
millions, and the narrow streets, it was no mystery as 
to why our coolies kept up an incessant warning call 
to clear the way for our coming. The most conspicu- 
ous pedestrians, as they seemed most numerous, were 
those coolies carrying tubs filled with human excre- 
ment and urine and with which the air was greatly 
overcharged in consequence. Mingled with the pleas- 
ant recollections in connection with the visit to Can- 
ton, so also is the disagreeable odor which pervaded 
everywhere, due to a mixture of causes. It had rained 
a good part of the day and the stone flagging of 
which the streets are made was very slippery. One 
poor rascal, much overladen with his burden, slipped 
and fell just as my coolies were passing, resulting in 
the foremost one being almost swamped by the spill. 
Due to the top covering of the sedan chairs, it was 
necessary, when getting in, to first step between the 
front shafts, then stoop and back into the seat. Be- 
fore the day was over we had stepped out of and back 
into the chair so often that I for one, fancied I could 
[166] 



DOING OVEE. 

do the shaft and backing act as perfectly as any old 
horse that ever lived. 

That part of Canton occupied by the foreign lega- 
tions, located on a plot of ground ceded to Britain, is 
modern, clean, and has some attractive buildings as 
well as a foreign hotel. 

One of the sights seen in the native part of the city, 
was the place of execution, where three or four crosses 
used for the purpose, to which criminals are tied and 
hacked to death, were idle. Canton enjoys the dis- 
tinction of having, during one year long since, exe- 
cuted about eighty thousand people. The Temple of 
Confucius was old and unattractive, architecturally; 
the temple of five hundred gods, one of the latter 
being Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, whom the 
Chinese so loved, that they deified, the god itself 
clearly showing European features and beard; the 
temple of doctor gods, where patients go for medicine, 
which is selected by the caller shaking a cup contain- 
ing a number of small sticks until one of the latter 
falls out. All the sticks contain the name of some 
medicine and whatever remedy thus appears upon the 
stick shaken out of the cup is given for the patient, 
regardless of the latter 's ailment. The pawn shops 
are the most conspicuous buildings in the place, tow- 
ering six and eight stories high and away above every 

[ 167 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

other building. The height of the pawn buildings in- 
dicate their importance. 

"We visited a Chinese school, where but few chil- 
dren were in attendance. 

At noon, Ah Cum conducted us to the five-storied 
pagoda located on the highest part of the wall sur- 
rounding the city, and, ascending to the top story, we 
ate the cold luncheon that had been brought along. 

Notwithstanding Ah Cum 's claimed forty-six years ' 
experience as a guide, it here developed that he still 
retained some of the Chinese superstitions and fear. 
Adjoining the pagoda was an old fort with half a 
dozen old cannon ; these latter were to be fired at noon, 
and which also explained the firing on our arrival in 
the morning — to frighten away the rain gods. The 
latter had allowed too much rainfall, endangering the 
rice and other crops, hence must be frightened away. 
When Ah Cum had seen us well started with the 
luncheon, and the noon hour close to hand when the 
cannon firing would begin, he said to us that while 
the pagoda was safe against the noise of the firing, 
the loof (roof) might fall in and he would therefore 
go below — a diplomatic way of warning us of the 
danger, as he saw it, or a frank statement that he had 
brought us up there to have the roof fall in on us, as 
we were disposed to interpret it. The firing took 
place on schedule time and kept up as fast as the 
[168 1 



DOING OVER. 

old cannons could be loaded. Needless to say, the roof 
withstood the shock, and the rain god must also have 
been proof against fright, since the clouds continued 
to pour down water. 

Canton's streets are lined with bazaars, many of 
them very attractive, as are also the mazes of over- 
hanging signs. The Cantonese men are bright look- 
ing and of good physique, many of them really hand- 
some fellows. 

So far as was apparent to us no ill-feeling existed 
against foreigners, notwithstanding all that had re- 
cently been published on the subject, and the mas- 
sacre only a few months previously in some parts of 
China, of some missionaries. A curious custom pre- 
vails in the bazaars, for when we went into one the 
doors were promptly bolted behind us and to all in- 
tents and purposes we were prisoners. The utmost 
courtesy, however, was shown us, and no disappoint- 
ment was apparent if we failed to make a purchase. 
The natives seemed thrifty and well-behaved even to 
the coolie classes, who moved about with their heavy 
burdens, and, greatly to their inconvenience, edged off 
to a side (as was necessary that we might pass) with 
not a murmur so far as we could distinguish. Some 
of these poor fellows carried weight enough to bear 
down a horse. Hung at the ends of a yoke, everything 
is carried on their shoulders in twin baskets, tubs or 
[169 1 



DOING OVER. 

other receptacle being used for the purpose. I saw 
one fellow with a kind of twin baskets in which I 
counted five pigs, the aggregate weight of which must 
have been fully three hundred pounds or more. 

A water clock and tower here is said to be six hun- 
dred years old; the clock which is run by a trickling 
stream of water, is a unique arrangement, and though 
it does not keep correct time, the latter is posted reg- 
ularly that the populace may know. The clock is 
still doing service, such as it is. 

The wall around the city was built by the Tartars 
many centuries ago. The Cantonese are claimed to 
be the oldest living nation of the world and are of 
record three hundred years prior to the Christian era. 
How many centuries it antedates that period probably 
no one knows. 

After a day of the most intense interest we again 
went aboard the steamer Hankow, and before dark 
started for the return trip to Victoria (Hongkong). 
The numerous sampans that during the day had been 
out somewhere upon the river had returned for the 
night, and the denizens were seen preparing the even- 
ing meal. The children, some of them mere infants, 
were, in the meanwhile, playing or otherwise waiting 
for the meal to be served. Crawling infants, when 
not strapped to the back of the women or girls, were 
usually tied to a rope to prevent their falling over- 
[170 1 



DOING OVER. 

board. Some of the sampan denizens are said to 
rarely ever go on shore, if at all. 

Due to continuous rains, the Pearl River was high 
and muddy, and its name about as applicable as snow- 
ball would be for an African pickaninny. Until dark- 
ness overtook us, however, and when Canton had been 
left behind, the scenery along the river was pictur- 
esque. The Hankow, though a small steamer, was 
fairly comfortable, except for the odor from the lower 
quarters, which were filled with natives. The latter 
are great gamblers and kept it up all night, as did 
those Chinese passengers on the trip from Hongkong 
to Canton the night previous. 



171 



CHAPTER XVI. 

MANILA AND THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Arrived back in Hongkong early the next morn- 
ing, May fifth ; arrangements were soon completed for 
the six hundred and forty miles ' voyage, again on the 
China Sea, to Manila, and at noon we boarded the 
steamer Zafira for the purpose. The only regular 
line between Hongkong and Manila is a British one. 
It developed, when we were buying our tickets, that 
a head tax of two and one-half dollars (gold) is 
charged all foreigners entering Manila. As Ameri- 
cans we were not regarded as foreigners, hence the 
head tax was omitted. The fare for the round trip 
is eighty dollars, Mexican (about forty dollars, gold). 
The Mexican silver dollar, all through China, so far 
as we traveled, is the circulating medium, though the 
Chinese tael, value about seventy-five cents (gold), is 
the money basis. The tael is not, however, in circula- 
tion, the Mexican dollar and small silver coin being 
the medium; paper money of various denominations 
is also being used, with the Mexican dollar as its 
basis. One hundred cents to a dollar, issued in five-, 
ten-, twenty- and fifty-cent silver coins, added to 
which is the Chinese cash, ten of which make one cent. 
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DOING OVER. 

The cash is of both copper and brass, principally the 
latter. 

On board the Zafira were but seven white and about 
fifty Chinese first-cabin passengers. The Chinese were 
returning to Manila after a visit to China, their time 
limit away from the islands having about expired if 
they wished to renew their residence in the Philip- 
pines. The Chinese exclusion act applies there as in 
the United States. In the Chinese group of passen- 
gers was an old fellow, a character, Ah Fat by name. 
Ah Fat was fat in avoirdupois as well as in this 
world's goods. He had been a hotel keeper in Manila, 
and sold his lease at a good price to the owners, who 
had previously sold the property to Uncle Sam. Hav- 
ing sold to Uncle Sam before buying Ah Fat's re- 
lease of the lease, the latter made the owners pay him 
richly, the Chinaman being too shrewd not to see his 
advantage. Ah Fat had spent a number of years 
aboard American men-of-war, hence he was a past 
master in the art of swearing in pidjin English. Like 
all Chinese, Ah Fat, though he spoke very fair Eng- 
lish, could not pronounce the letter "R," hence his 
reference to a row as a low ; for instance, when asked 
how many wives he had, answered, ''I got only one 
wife, that enough, mo one wife make-a all time low." 
A Chinaman can take unto himself as many wives as 
[173 1 



DOING OVER. 

he can support, the latter condition being strictly ex- 
acted. 

The voyage of two days and twenty hours to Ma- 
nila was rather pleasant, though the Zafira of only 
two thousand two hundred tons did not sail as 
smoothly as my stomach would have had it. It is be- 
tween Manila and Hongkong that the typhoons so 
often sweep everything before them, one of which we 
missed by only a day. The accommodations on the 
Zafira were very fair for a small steamer and the 
meals fair, under the circumstances. 

Manila Bay is, perhaps, one of the best land-locked 
imaginable, with an entrance only about a half mile 
wide, broken, however, by Corregidor Island (small), 
not far from the mainland on one side. It was from 
the old fort on Corregidor Island that the Spanish 
tried to destroy Dewey's progress toward Manila dur- 
ing the Spanish- American war. The water is too shal- 
low between the island and the one shore for any but 
small craft, while the channel for large vessels seemed 
less than three hundred yards in width. Manila Bay 
is forty miles long and about nine miles at its great- 
est width, with Manila about thirty-five miles from 
the entrance, while Cavite is five miles across the bay, 
and where Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet. 

On the morning of May eighth, at eight o'clock, we 
finally went ashore in the city, after a superficial ex- 
[174] 



DOING OVEE. 

amination by the customs officers of the little baggage 
we had brought with us. The Bay View Hotel, where 
we put up, was the poorest experienced in our entire 
tour to date. One other hotel in the city is said to be 
no better, the natural conclusion, therefore, is that 
Manila badly needs a good hotel. In this connection 
a singular coincidence occurred on the first evening 
of our visit to the city. A retired army officer. Major 

A , who had been a fellow passenger on board 

ship from New York to Naples and whose acquaint- 
ance we had made, urged us to look him up should we 

visit Manila. Major A , therefore, was the first 

individual we looked up after landing and who 
promptly undertook to make our visit enjoyable. An 
invitation to dinner at his home that evening was one 
of the hospitalities extended us. It was there that 
the above coincidence, and, surprise as well, was in 
store for us, for amongst the half dozen male guests 
was a hotel man from the States, formerly of Cincin- 
nati and whom I had known for a number of years. 
Four or five of the most prominent resident Ameri- 
cans with our host had arranged the meeting that 
evening with the hotel man (who had come from the 
States for the purpose) to talk over the question of 
building a creditable hotel in Manila. We were thus 
complimented with the privilege of being listeners to 
an important subject, besides the pleasure of the din- 
[175] 



DOING OVEE. 

ner. Before leaving the city, we were the guests at 
dinner at the home of one other of those present at 

Major A 's home. 

Those resident Americans whom we met seemed en- 
thusiastic over their new home and the island's pros- 
pects. The old part of the city is surrounded by a 
wall about fourteen feet thick, which, prior to Amer- 
ican occupation, had a moat around it; the latter, 
however, has since been filled in and is to be made part 
of a park system. The wall, also, has in places been 
taken down and streets run through. Needless to 
say that, except for certain improvements of Uncle 
Sam's, the city is Spanish in appearance, especially 
inside the wall. A good electric street car system of 
thirty-seven miles has recently been installed. While 
not a beautiful city, the mixture of Spanish and 
American architecture and the commingling of Span- 
iards, Philippinos and Americans, gives the place a 
fascinating appearance. Of the claimed two hundred 
and fifty thousand population, between four thousand 
and five thousand are Americans, about two hundred 
and fifty English and a very few Germans. Though 
midsummer at time of our visit and hot, ninety-five 
to ninety-eight degrees in the shade, a steady breeze 
made the conditions very bearable. Manila is about 
fifteen degrees north of the equator, while Hongkong 
is only about twenty-two degrees north. Everyone 
[ 176 ] 



DOING OVER. 

rides, even if for but a short distance. The Ameri- 
can residents were apparent on all sides in the drives, 
and even on horseback, in which some women took 
part. The Philippino band, eighty pieces, which took 
one of the prizes at the St. Louis Fair, gave concerts 
in the Lunata (a large, open space fronting on the 
bay) several times a week, around which the people 
gather in close attention. The conductor was a fine 
looking American negro. The attendance at these 
concerts is large, many having come in carriages and 
other turn-outs; the women, without exception in 
white gowns, looked very attractive. The city is kept 
cleaner than any of those previously seen on our tour. 

An interesting visit was that to the penitentiary, 
where there were four thousand convicts. The place 
looked the perfection of neatness and discipline. Fur- 
niture was one of the principal products made by the 
convicts. Quite a few women were included in the 
list, but these are not employed in any capacity be- 
cause it is claimed they were useless at anj^thing prac- 
ticable. 

We were introduced in the Army and Navy Club, 
a rather creditable one, and not only is it without 
debt but has a comfortable surplus of fifty-five thou- 
sand dollars (gold). As there is little or no means 
of recreation in Manila, the Club and whisky and 
soda help dispel lonesomeness. The Mexican dollar 
12 [ 177 ] 



DOING OVER. 

here, as in China, was the circulating medium, though 
here called by its Mexican name — peso^ one hundred 
centavos (cents) to a dollar or peso. 

An afternoon was pleasantly spent on the Pasig 
River, which runs through the city, again as Major 

A 's guests. A mishap to the launch's engine, 

however, prevented the excursion to Laguna Lake, 
ten miles from Manila. The villages of Santa Anna, 
San Miguil and town of Pasig, however, were passed 
before the aforesaid mishap, thus giving us some little 
idea of the rural life. The town of Pasig was the 
scene of a good deal of fighting during the Philippino 
insurrection, the results of which are still apparent in 
some of the wrecked buildings. 

We visited a cigarette factory, where two million 
cigarettes and three thousand or four thousand cigars 
are said to be made up daily, mostly women and very 
young girls being employed. Every one here smokes ; 
the natives, including the women, smoke cigarettes. 
Cockfighting is the native sport and one sees some 
Philippino carrying a fowl wherever he goes. The 
cockpits are usually on the outskirts of the city. In 
the latter locality could still be seen some of the ruins 
of a typhoon of the year previous. The native huts 
are made of bamboo. Manila's streets, except that 
part of it built under American rule, are narrow, with 
sidewalks in places not over two feet wide. The prin- 
[178] 



DOING OVEE. 

cipal business street, the Escolta, is being widened. 
The property inside the wall was said to still belong 
to the Friars. Catholic churches are numerous, most 
of which are built fortress-like for defense purposes. 
The majority of the homes in the walled city, and 
some outside, are built with extension balconies at 
the second floor, thereby recalling the balcony scene 
in Romeo and Juliet. 

As we had planned only a short visit to Manila, 
arrangements were made to return to Hongkong on 
the steamship Zafira, which had brought us over. In 
consequence, we had but four days on the island, 
during which time we probably saw the principal at- 
tractions of the city, and I was pleased with having 
made even so short a visit to Uncle Sam's farthest- 
from-home oriental possession. 

We were told that there were opportunities in the 
Philippines for bright young Americans, who came 
equipped with patience, a disposition to work, hon- 
esty, and some little money. In addition to the three 
thousand to four thousand Americans in Manila, there 
are said to be about ten thousand in the various Phil- 
ippine Islands ; these latter extending about one thou- 
sand miles north and south and are claimed to be 
about three thousand in number, of which one thou- 
sand six hundred are said to be named and about six 
hundred of them inhabited. The resources of the 
ri79 1 



DOING OVER. 

islands in minerals are gold in limited quantities, coal 
of good quality, some silver and copper, and coal oil. 
The timber lands include mahogany and narra, though 
these are said to be found scattered and at best are 
not marketable because of the absence of railways; 
the agricultural resources are the richest, and include 
in importance in the order named, hemp, copra (dried 
cocoanut from which the oil is made), sugar, tobacco, 
rice, cacao (from which cocoa is made), cotton, and 
some coffee, though the latter is said to be dying out. 
The temperature of the islands as a whole is said 
to be not unlike that of southern California, and any- 
thing grown elsewhere can be produced on some one 
or other of the Philippine group. The virgin soil on 
the islands is claimed to be twenty feet deep in places. 
Rains fall from time to time the year round, instead 
of a dry and rainy season. All resident Americans 
whom we met, in whatever position, appeared enthu- 
siastic over the Philippine prospects. Capital, which 
is badly needed in the development of the islands' 
resources, would no doubt come if Congress, at home, 
would cease its vacillating policy with regard to the 
future of these possessions. The latter are said to be 
weighted down by too much government, of which 
there is enough for the administration of a country 
many times the size of the Philippines. The cost of 
the government is correspondingly hard on the pop- 
[180] 



DOING OVER. 

Illation. Congress has already made some grave blun- 
ders in the administration of the islands and it is to 
be regretted that we do not have a Colonial Depart- 
ment unhampered by politics to administer over all 
of our foreign possessions. Both resident Americans 
and Philippinos have been demoralized by the posi- 
tion taken by Congress from time to time. One of the 
difficulties previously experienced by Americans de- 
siring to invest was that of getting a clear title to 
property, but that is being gradually overcome. For 
extensive farming, one difficulty is the fact that not 
over two thousand acres of land can be acquired by 
one holder, and only forty acres are given to a home- 
steader. 

Our understanding was that the natives are com- 
pletely subdued except for occasional bands of out- 
laws. The American negro is said to be very kindly 
taken to by the Philippino women, in consequence a 
number of the former, as discharged from the service 
in the Philippines, took up native women and located 
in some one of the rural districts. What the new 
race, resulting from this very newest human alliance 
will be, time alone will tell. If there is now any in- 
habited portion of the globe which does not include 
the black man in its population, there must be some 
oversight on the part of the fates. 

Notwithstanding the above prospective new race 
[181] 



DOING OVER. 

it is my belief that the islands will some day prove a 
valuable asset to Uncle Sam and that he should hold 
on to them, not merely for coaling stations but also 
because of their many resources. 

At the time of our visit to Manila the local papers 
were expressing jubilation over the information that 
New York bankers were backing a project to build 
four hundred and twenty-five miles of new railways 
on the islands. As but between two hundred and 
three hundred miles of railway made up the sum 
total, previously, the new addition should be of great 
benefit. 

A fact to be regretted is the one that so few Ameri- 
cans visit Manila or the islands. Great is the num- 
ber of our people who go to Japan, Shanghai and 
Hongkong (the latter place only six hundred and 
forty miles from Manila) with no seeming interest 
in the islands. If the latter belonged to Britain every 
Englishman from every part of the world would want 
to visit the new possessions. It is my belief that 
Britain, Japan, Germany, France and other of the 
powers would gladly take the Philippines off our 
hands, even at a profit above the cost to us. 

"While it meant a voyage of one thousand two hun- 
dred and eighty miles from Hongkong and return, 
for the four days in Manila, it gave me much gratifica- 
tion to have made the visit. 

[ 182 1 



DOING OVEE. 

At eleven o'clock on the morning of May twelfth, 
we were taken out to the Zafira, upon a launch, for the 
return to Hongkong. The pier at Manila is not built 
out into the water, hence steamers anchor off shore 
a short distance. As the Zafira steamed away down 
the bay under a bright sunshine, Cavite could be seen 
across the five miles' distance, while picturesque Ma- 
nila grew steadily less distinct until it finally passed 
from view. Already the visit there was a thing of 
the past and in all probability, so far as I am con- 
cerned, not to be seen again except as pictured in the 
mind. 

Aboard the Zafira this time were about twenty first- 
cabin passengers, nearly all Americans, including two 
young Chicagoans. The weather was ideal through- 
out the two days and seven hours' run to Hongkong 
(Victoria). Fortune again favored us and we had 
another narrow escape from introduction to a ty- 
phoon, which this time followed the day after our voy- 
age. The most beautiful sunset I ever saw appeared 
at end of the second day, the coloring of the after- 
glow was especially dazzling in its wondrous beauty. 
As on the voyage to Manila, the Zafira on the return 
to Hongkong gave evidences of what a shaking up 
she would be capable of in a storm, to say nothing of 
what she might not do in a typhoon. The China Sea 
[183] 



DOING OVEE. 

is a restless body of water, due to the constantly blow- 
ing trade winds. 

With the addition of the Americans above referred 
to some new life was infused into our party. Begin- 
ning with our first landing in Victoria (Hongkong) 
we began also to feel we were nearer home, because 
of the numerous Americans we were constantly run- 
ning across. 



[184 



CHAPTER XVII. 

BACK TO CHINA AND VOYAGE THROUGH THE YELLOW SEA 
AND GULP OF PECHILI PAST PORT ARTHUR. 

Arrived at Hongkong from Manila on the evening 
of May fourteenth ; we took up quarters this time at 
the Hotel King Edward, a very fair one. As on our 
previous visit the weather conditions were humid, 
though the temperature was between seventy and 
eighty degrees. My notes, beginning with our first 
stop in Hongkong, May third to fifth, covered both 
visits there, leaving little to add here except for a 
visit to Macao. The latter city belongs to Portugal 
and is located across Kwang Chu Bay from Hongkong, 
about forty miles, the trip having been made in a 
small steamer, Wing Char, owned by a Chinese com- 
pany with English officers, and plying between the 
two cities. 

Macao has a population of about seventy thousand, 
of whom many are Portuguese. Portugal was the 
first foreign power to be given a concession by China : 
the small province of Macao. Portugal was, besides, 
the discoverer of the orient and given first concession 
in India, namely, Goa. Macao is known as the Monte 
Carlo of the orient, because of its numerous gambling 
[185] 



DOING OVEE. 

resorts. These latter are patronized principally by 
the natives, but foreigners are said not infrequently 
to take a hand, the popular game being fantan. The 
revenue drawn by Portugal from the gambling re- 
sorts' licenses is said to be very considerable. While 
the city in the main has a Chinese appearance, much 
of it is of Portuguese architecture, including all the 
public buildings. A small detachment of Portuguese 
soldiers is continually kept here. A remarkable relic 
here is the ruins of St. Paul's Catholic Church. The 
latter, built a long time ago, was destroyed by fire 
some years since, and nothing at all remains of the 
structure but the front wall. The latter, almost in- 
tact, with a number of statues of saints, only just 
shows signs of the church's destruction in some of the 
stone about the upper windows, and nearby statues 
being somewhat broken as a result of the great heat. 
The church is on a high eminence, with broad steps 
leading up to it, the whole making an imposing as 
well as pleasing picture. 

A visit to an opium factory was an interesting one. 
Numerous kettles contained the boiling stuff which 
has been for years poisoning the Chinese mind and 
body. "We happened in at the opium factory at noon 
and a number of the Chinese workmen were naked 
and taking baths in some of the kettles used for boil- 
ing the opium. 

[ 186 ] 



DOING OVER. 

The city fronts on the mouth of a small stream, the 
latter full of junks and sampans, the whole making a 
picturesque sight. In one of the large junks a Chi- 
nese wedding was being celebrated, the principal fea- 
ture, so far as we could see, being the incessant ex- 
plosion of firecrackers. A good part of the day was 
taken up in the visit to and from Macao. On the re- 
turn trip we met an old fellow, an Australian, who 
claimed to have originated the lie about the Indian 
magician's trick of tossing a rope in the air which 
would remain suspended and up which a small boy 
would climb, then disappear. The old fellow was both 
a reprobate, from his own confession, and a charac- 
ter as well. He claimed to have been connected with 
all the prominent American circuses, dating back for 
years, and at the time we met him he was advance 
agent for an American magician, performing in Hong- 
kong at the time. 

Though Hongkong is a British concession, the 
money current is the Mexican dollar of one hundred 
cents, in value about half that of our dollar, though 
fluctuating in value w^th the rate of exchange and sil- 
ver. While the foreign population of the place is 
largely British, a good many Germans are also promi- 
nent in business, as evidenced by a very creditable 
club building. ' 

On May eighteenth, we went aboard the steamer 
[187 1 



DOING OVEE. 

Siberia, of tlie Pacific Mail Steamship Company, for 
the voyage of eight hundred and sixty miles through 
the Eastern Sea to Shanghai. The Siberia looked de- 
lightfully good to me for a number of reasons — be- 
cause an American steamer and service, because many 
Americans were aboard, and because the steamer was 
modern and large (five hundred and sixty feet long, 
and eighteen thousand tons displacement), with com- 
fort all around. It was the Siberia which made the 
record run (ten days and ten hours) from Yokohama 
to Frisco with Alice Roosevelt and party aboard. We 
steamed out of Hongkong harbor with but about 
seventy-five first-cabin passengers, but every berth 
was reported engaged for the run from Yokohama to 
San Francisco. The temperature, soon after we were 
well under way, became very comfortable. The sky 
was overhung with clouds, however, and as we pro- 
ceeded up the Eastern Sea, toward evening a cold 
rain came up. The Chinese coast could be seen more 
or less all day and during the night we passed through 
the Formosa channel, between the mainland and the 
island of Formosa. The following day brought raw 
cold winds, followed early in the evening by a light 
fog, which continued to grow more dense during the 
night. The ominous and uncanny sound of the fog 
horn continued all night, making sleep but little short 
of a nightmare. By eleven o'clock the following day 

[188] 



DOING OVER. 

we came to a dead stop, the dense fog and nearness 
of the mainland and islands making it foolhardy to 
proceed. Once the fog seemed to be lifting and the 
engines were again put to work, but it soon developed 
the fog had no such cheering intention; the anchor 
was again dropped and we were thus delayed thirty 
hours before the uncanny gloom took wings and dis- 
appeared. When distance could again be seen, two 
small islands reared up high, not more than a mile 
ahead of us, and between which we now passed in 
safety. Time had become a drag with the gloom of 
fog hanging over us and the thirty hours' delay did 
not add cheerfulness to my frame of mind. A num- 
ber of American girls were aboard, and though some 
of them seemed charming I did not seem to have come 
within the influence of their charm. On the contrary 
I felt myself being held back, as it were, from any 
but the most formal acquaintance with them. This 
same feeling had controlled me on previous occasions 
on this tour, in consequence I probably missed mak- 
ing some pleasant acquaintances. 

The end of the voyage of three days and eleven 
hours on the Siberia came during the night of May 
twenty-first, when our good ship anchored opposite 
Wusung on the Whampoo River, forty miles up from 
its mouth. Shanghai was still twelve miles up the 
Whampoo, the water in which is too shallow to admit 
[ 189 1 



DOING OVEE. 

of vessels of the deep draught of the Siberia. About 
eight o'clock we boarded a tender, with our luggage, 
for the additional run to Shanghai, where we went 
ashore at half-past nine. 

Having previously planned a trip to Pekin via the 
Yellow Sea, the very first thing we did after landing 
was to look up steamship offices for this purpose. It 
developed that a small steamer, belonging to the Chi- 
nese Mining and Engineering Company (British) 
with a concession in the extreme northern part of 
China, was to leave that afternoon. Accordingly we 
promptly purchased tickets and without trying to 
see Shanghai went aboard the steamer Ching Ping, 
of the above named steamship company, for the voy- 
age of six hundred and forty miles to Chinwangtao. 
A young man, son of a Chicago packer, and his tutor, 
both of whom we had met on the Zafira, from Manila 
to Hongkong, joined our party, now five in number, 
for the above voyage. We were the only passengers 
on board the Ching Ping, which had very poor ac- 
commodations, but a jovial and good story-telling cap- 
tain. The latter had provided fairly good food, and 
in all respects made us feel as much at home as was 
possible upon a small ship not intended for passen- 
ger service. The fare from Shanghai to Chinwangtao 
was sixty-one dollars (Mexican). We steamed away 
from Shanghai about three o'clock, down the Wham- 
[190] 



DOING OVER. 

poo River to its mouth, thence out into the Yellow Sea. 
Our course, the second night out, took us past Port 
Arthur, about ten miles off, now historic waters, on 
the one side, and Shantung, the German concession, 
and Weihaiwei, a British concession, on the China 
coast, and finally through the Strait and Gulf of 
Pechili to Chinwangtao. The voyage was free of any 
special incident, much of the time being put in play- 
ing solitaire. Our little steamer did the rolling act 
more or less all the time, running in the trough of 
the sea. 

The China coast along our course is said to still 
harbor some pirates, who from time to time capture 
Chinese junk boats when laden with a cargo, and 
which they dispose of. Up until about fifteen years 
ago even steamers were not immune from the attacks 
of these pirates. To this day steamers keep themselves 
prepared for such adventures. 



[191 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

EXTREME NORTHERN PART OF CHINA, THE GREAT WALL 
IN ITS APPROACH TO THE SEA, AND PEKIN. 

Early in the afternoon of May twenty-fifth, we ar- 
rived at Chinwangtao, seventy hours from Shanghai, 
a record run for the Ching Ping. Bidding our jovial 
captain good-bye we went ashore, with the small bag- 
gage brought with us for the trip, our trunks having 
been left in Shanghai. 

Chinwangtao is a port mainly for the Chinese Min- 
ing and Engineering Company and from which car- 
goes of coal are regularly started for various parts of 
the orient, South Africa, and other points. Fifty 
thousand Chinese coolies are said to have been started 
for South Africa from this place, during the preceding 
months, to work in the mines. 

The natives here seem as hardy and fierce as they 
undoubtedly, also, are poor. With a railway built 
from here direct to Pekin, the latter, it is said, would 
be brought to within ninety miles of the coast, whereas 
it is now ninety miles from Tientsin, and the latter 
is on a small river some miles from the coast. 

Since the Boxer troubles of 1900, garrisons of Brit- 
ish, French, German and Japanese soldiers, are sta- 
[192] 







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ffli 


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iiliillli 


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WPi 


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^■# • 






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DOING OVEE. 

tioned at Chinwangtao and Tientsin. There was little 
to see at Chinwangtao, except the poor natives, and 
as our objective point was Shanhaikwan, ten miles 
away on the railway, and the train was to start three 
hours after our landing from the Ching Ping, we were 
glad when ail-aboard was called out by the train con- 
ductor. Our first ride, however, was but four miles 
to a place called Tongho, where we changed to the 
Chinese Imperial Railway for the ten mile run to 
Shanhaikwan. Arriving at the latter place about 
dark, we were soon in a hotel run by an Englishman. 
The hotel was surrounded by a stone wall, built for 
defensive purposes should occasion arise. The city, 
also inside a stone wall, was in an opposite direction. 
As the night was dark and the city unlighted, except 
by such flickering lights as came from homes or shops, 
our party in a short stroll into the city had both a 
guide and lanterns. 

Early on the following day, before breakfast, we 
started out to visit the Great Wall of China, which, 
a short distance away, comes down over the Khingan 
Mountains to the sea. The sight of this much-talked- 
of and written-about wall thrilled me with interest as 
I gazed at it at close range, climbed over it and saw 
it in the distance as it disappears from view over the 
mountains. 

The Great Wall is said to have been built to keep 
13 [ 193 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

out the Manchus (Manchurians). However, about 
two hundred and sixty years since, the then Em- 
peror of China appealed to the Manchus to help put 
down a rebellion then prevailing in China. The 
Manchus responded with an army and when it arrived 
at Pekin, finding the Emperor had previously com- 
mitted suicide and the throne unoccupied, selected 
one of their number, crowned him Emperor, the dy- 
nasty continuing to rule to the present day. The wall 
at Shanhaikwan seemed to be about seventy-five feet 
high, and fifteen feet wide at the top. It is said to 
be about two thousand miles in length and was built 
so many thousand years ago (said to be about four 
thousand), that man knows not its age. The Wall 
divides China from Manchuria and we crossed into 
the latter country but a short distance, through a gap 
cut into the Wall for the Chinese Imperial Railway. 
The latter, connecting with the Japanese Railway at 
Harbin or Mukden, finally joins with the Russian 
Trans-Siberian Railway at Vladivostok. One can now 
go from Pekin to St. Petersburg by rail, the trip tak- 
ing about seventeen days. 

As our visit to Chinwangtao and Shanhaikwan was 
simply to see the Great Wall and there being no other 
incentive to keep us in such an out of the world sort 
of place, we departed by the first train, which left 
at half-past eight the morning after our arrival. 
[194] 



DOING OVEE. 

After the visit to the Wall we partook of a hurried 
breakfast and then went aboard the Chinese Imperial 
Railway, and started for the two hundred and sixty- 
three mile run to Pekin via Tientsin (ninety miles, 
Tientsin to Pekin) . 

The Chinese Imperial Railway, owned jointly by 
Chinese and British capital, is apparently under good 
management and gives very fair accommodations. 
The cars, which are superior to those in India, Burma 
and Java, also included a diner. The building of 
railways in China is attended with no little difficulty, 
because of the superstition of the natives. In con- 
versation with a Swede, who was at the time connected 
with the road, and was a fellow traveler, he stated 
that at one point when the Chinese Imperial Railway 
was being built, while tunneling, an order came from 
the Imperial Government to stop the work because of 
its disturbance of the repose of a dragon, who was 
supposed to be asleep in the hill through which the 
tunnel was being cut. Other instances occurred, when, 
along the line contemplated, graves of mandarins or 
other notables happened, the relatives could with dif- 
ficulty be persuaded to allow the remains to be moved 
to some other resting place, claiming that the spirits 
of the dead thus removed would be disturbed. In one 
instance the relatives of a noted mandarin positively 
would not allow his remains to be disturbed, and the 
ri95 1 



DOING OVER. 

railway was built to swerve around the grave. When 
trains were finally run over that part of the road, 
engineers were instructed to blow their whistles at 
full blast when passing the spot. The result was that 
the family of the dead mandarin in a short while 
concluded the spirit of the dead was being greatly 
disturbed by the whistling locomotives and they qui- 
etly took him up, moving him sufficiently far away 
from the railway that he might rest in peace. There- 
after the track was straightened where it had pre- 
viously been built to swerve out. 

The Chinese do not have general burying grounds, 
but bury here, there and everywhere, wherever the 
relatives own property. Because of their custom, the 
whole country appears dotted with mounds, the size 
of the latter indicating the man's standing in life. 
Much land is correspondingly deprived of cultivation. 
The country from Shanhaikwan to Tientsin and 
Pekin, and as seen later from the latter city to Han- 
kau, is almost entirely level, with occasional low 
mountains in the distance. Except for the very nu- 
merous mounds of buried Chinamen, the lands were 
fully under cultivation, peasants being seen at work 
all along the line of railway. Thousands of acres of 
grain, wheat and barley, were being harvested. At 
points near the coast, between Shanhaikwan and 
Tientsin, were many salt beds, with curious wind- 
[ 196 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

mills fitted with sails, to pump the water from the 
sea, which was then allowed to evaporate, the salt 
finally being piled into heaps ready for the market. 

We arrived at Pekin on the evening of May twenty- 
sixth in a rain, and the streets were as frightfully 
muddy as disgustingly dusty forty-eight hours there- 
after, for the day after our arrival, and during our 
visit, the sun shone as hot as I ever experienced it. 
Pekin is filthy with dirt of a mixture purely Chinese, 
and with a high wind blowing and the dust flying in 
over-generous quantities, there is no telling what 
amount and breed of microbes we were required to 
inhale and swallow. The city is the very filthiest of 
any that it was my misfortune ever to have visited. 
The population of Pekin, like that of other large Chi- 
nese cities, is uncertain and is variously estimated at 
from one million to two millions. It has nothing of 
exterior beauty to recommend it, and, except for the 
history that attaches to it, or for curio hunters, there 
is no good excuse for visiting it, as seen from my 
point of view. Of foreigners there are said to be 
about five hundred, exclusive of about one thousand 
two hundred legation guards. In case of another 
Boxer or like uprising the foreign garrisons here, with 
those at Tientsin and Chinwangtao, and other places, 
brought upon the scene with their modern man-killing 
equipment, could soon make frightful gaps in the 
ri97 1 



DOING OVER. 

Chinese hordes who might make the attack. Equally 
equipped and drilled, as the Chinese are gradually be- 
coming, the aforesaid garrisons would be as flakes of 
snow in a blizzard against the great odds in numbers. 
The foreign legation buildings, and at least one for- 
eign business house seen in Pekin, are built for de- 
fensive purposes, being surrounded by high stone 
walls. Here the British legation buildings, as else- 
where in the orient, are the most imposing, with Uncle 
Sam's as sort of a second rate by comparison. To all 
outward appearances the Chinese in Pekin, as else- 
where in our rounds, showed no signs of displeasure 
over the presence of the foreigners. During our visit 
in Pekin, however, the local English papers editorially 
commented on the fact that Chinese posters had re- 
cently been distributed throughout the city urging 
another demonstration against the legations, the time 
set having been just about during our visit. The resi- 
dent foreigners, so far as could be judged, did not 
appear uneasy over the situation. 

Between the members of the foreign legations and 
the foreigners in business here, there is the strongest 
evidence of what man will risk for money. As I un- 
derstand it, the lawless classes are made up of the 
low class coolies, who still hate the foreign devils (for- 
eigners). We were also told that hunger is often at 
the bottom of the attacks upon foreigners, for during 
[198] 



DOING OVER. 

famine periods, the mandarins or other officials, fear- 
ing for their own safety, work on the credulous minds 
of the ignorant natives, charging the crop failures to 
the presence of the foreigners — thus diverting the 
wrath of the people upon them. Most resident for- 
eigners spoken to on the subject placed the blame al- 
most entirely on the presence in China of foreign mis- 
sionaries. They state that the latter, over-zealous in 
their efforts at conversion of the natives, are charged 
with trying to force Christianity upon them, whether 
or no. 

Pekin has five walls around it, including that 
around the ' ' Forbidden City, ' ' which is in the centre 
of the city and tightly closed to foreigners. In addi- 
tion, the Chinese homes, seemingly made up of small 
communities, are also inside walls, hence the city is 
surely made up of walls within walls. 

The American minister at Pekin, Mr. Rockhill, is 
claimed to be the most learned (having also a fluent 
command of the Chinese language) and highly re- 
garded of all foreign ministers in China. While cred- 
ited with having discovered the source of the Yangtze- 
Kiang River as in Thibet, it is also claimed that no 
white man has ever, so far as known, traversed the 
river to its source. Estimates of the length of the 
Yangtze-Kiang place it at about one thousand six 
hundred miles. 

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DOING OVEE. 

The Grand Hotel des Wagon Lits, at Pekin, where 
we put up, as to service was very poor; however, the 
rooms were comfortable, and it has the reputation of 
being the best of the two foreign hotels in the city, 
both being close to the legation neighborhood. 

Of the public attractions here the temples probably 
are in the lead, in fact, there are no others as to build- 
ings, the Temples of Heaven and of Longevity being 
the only ones that I could view as attractive. These 
are enclosed in immense grounds (as are all the tem- 
ples here), and numerous buildings make up the tem- 
ple group. Included in the grounds of the Temple of 
Heaven are several attractive marble terraces, one of 
which is claimed, by the Chinese, to represent and to 
be the centre of the earth. The Temple of Confucius, 
and others visited, have little or no architectural 
beauty to recommend them. A great number of acres 
of ground are given to the temples. In the pagoda 
drum tower one of our party indiscreetly struck the 
drum (a large and loud sounding one) with the heavy 
drum stick which was hanging close by, and thus 
badly frightened the attendant, who claimed he would 
lose his head, and that it might possibly make trouble 
for us if the drum was tapped except in connection 
with the ceremonial for which it is intended. The 
aforesaid drum tower is located upon a slight emi- 
nence and to get to the top of the tower was a very 
[200 1 



DOING OVER. 

tiresome climb. Once there, however, the city was 
seen scattered in all directions and for miles around, 
for it is built scattering. 

An interesting visit was to one of the Chinese the- 
atres, a barn-like arrangement, but on the afternoon 
of our visit it was packed with seemingly happy and 
good-natured men. We were given places right off 
from and overlooking the stage, our seats (an old 
bench), being enclosed as private, and out of which 
a number of Chinamen had been unceremoniously 
driven by the attendant that we might occupy the 
places. The performance, purely Chinese, seemed to 
amuse the audience, who, while not boisterous in ap- 
plause, showed approval in laughter. If foreigners 
were hated by that motley audience, most of them 
only half clad, no better opportunity to show it could 
have been desired, and as for our getting away from 
the place, if attacked, our position was even worse 
than that of rats in a trap. There was but one exit 
from where we were and the space between us and 
the steps to the ground floor was crowded, to say noth- 
ing of the packed house below. 

After the visit to Canton, I did not see the number 
of fine-looking fellows that were so numerous in that 
city. The women are unattractive, though modest in 
bearing, and gaze upon foreigners with seeming ti- 
midity. 

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There is an entire absence of the attractive bazaars 
so numerous in Canton, however, as in the latter place, 
and elsewhere, when in a shop for shopping pur- 
poses, there always seem to be a half dozen, more or 
less. Chinamen around interested in the proceeding. 

Pekin, from my experience, is a poor place for the 
curio hunter. The place, however, has innumerable 
ornamental arches across the streets, triumphal arch 
like. One of these, built of stone, is on the site where 
the German Ambassador, Baron Von Ketteler, was 
murdered at the outbreak of the Boxer trouble, the 
German Emperor forcing the Chinese Government to 
erect the arch in memory of the Baron, and in humili- 
ation for the deed. 

The few Chinese soldiers which we saw in China 
were a misnomer, in appearance, for the word soldier 
as applied to those of the civilized nations. At Pekin 
we saw some army officers riding, squatted upon the 
floor of a native vehicle not unlike a cart, except for 
the top and side covering. This vehicle, built strong 
enough for any purpose and from its size intended 
for but one passenger, almost completely obscures the 
occupant from more than just a casual view from the 
front. Riding in advance of the aforesaid officer is 

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a horseman or two in native costume, the whole as 
unlike soldiery as could be. 

The native policeman is another grotesque figure, 
and is more like an overgrown boy playing police- 
man than the real thing; and of those which I saw 
not one had even the ordinary appearance of intelli- 
gence, nor did they possess the redeeming appearance 
of ferociousness. From casual observation my judg- 
ment would be that China is not ruled by force of 
disciplined character. As an off-set to the above de- 
scription, we saw in Canton the possible future real 
soldier — the young boy cadets. These latter were 
bright looking, spoke English and acted perfectly 
at home and self-reliant in conversation with 
our party. They were minus the queue, and 
in modern cadet suits of yellow, these little 
fellows of perhaps fourteen to sixteen years of 
age looked very promising. While China is 
said to be drilling considerable of an army upon mod- 
ern lines, yet we saw none of it. The Chinaman is 
as much a pidjin man as he is far from a fighting 
one, hence no wonder of his defeat in warfare. The 
word pidjin is purely the Chinese expression for the 
word business. He appears well-behaved, quiet, in- 
dustrious and honest. In those foreign countries 
where we previously met him in numbers — Penang, 
Singapore and Java — he forges ahead in business to 
[203 1 



DOING OVER. 

an astonishing degree. The Chinaman, when poor 
or in but moderate circumstances, is a frugal fellow, 
but once well-to-do lives on the fat of the land to the 
fullest extent of pleasure. The coolie (poor) classes 
go almost naked, while the wealthy appear pictur- 
esque in attractive colored silk gowns. 



204 



CHAPTER XIX. 

NANKING, THE OLD CHINESE CAPITAL, AND THE YANGTZE- 
KIANG RIVER. 

But, to get out of Pekin, of which, from my observa- 
tion, there is nothing more to say, on the evening of 
the third day of our visit we boarded the train de luxe 
(train of luxury) for the seven hundred and fifty 
mile run to Hankau. This trip usually takes three 
days, the trains running by day only. On one day of 
the week, however (Mondays), the train de luxe is 
sent out and makes the distance in thirty-six hours, 
running both day and night. The railway, built and 
owned by Belgians under a Chinese concession, and 
known as the Pekin and Hankau Railway, is compara- 
tively new. The train de luxe is made up of compart- 
ment sleepers and a dining car, and while all are 
cheaply built, yet they are as comfortable as many of 
the compartments on the continent of Europe. 

The trip was a hot one, during the day, so that it 
was a great relief when Hankau was reached. That 
the trip is easily made in the thirty-six hours allotted 
is evidenced by the fact that we were continually run- 
ning ahead of time, and frequently made long stops 
at stations to let time catch up with us. As but very 
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DOING OVER. 

few trains are run, there was apparently no fear, on 
the part of the trainmen, of a collision. The train 
de luxe, with its dining car service, had only been put 
on a few weeks prior to our trip, hence was still a 
curiosity to the natives. If a stop was made at a sta- 
tion at meal time the crowds gathered would justify 
the impression that every Chinaman in the particular 
town was trying to get a peek into the diner, with its 
occupants at meal. That the train de luxe was such, 
at least so far as the railway fare is concerned, the 
cost of thirty-five dollars (gold) is proof positive. The 
statement that the railway is a handsome-paying in- 
vestment for the Belgians must certainly be true, as 
the above fare would also seem to prove beyond doubt. 
The country through which the Pekin and Hankau 
Eailway passes is agricultural, and we saw thousands 
of acres of grain, said to have been wheat, barley and 
rye, being harvested by men, women and children. 
Except for low mountains, to be seen in the distance 
from time to time, the land was level, apparently 
fertile, and except for the innumerable mound graves 
scattered all along the line, every foot of the land ap- 
peared to be cultivated. Of the cities along the line 
of the railway but little could be seen, because of 
enclosing walls and for which reason, also, the sta- 
tions in all cases were off to the side of the towns. I 
do not recall any city of size or importance along the 
[206] 



DOING OVER. 

line. When the Hankau district was reached, rice 
paddies became much in evidence, thousands of acres 
apparently growing that great Chinese staple, a crop 
failure of which means famine to the poor of the 
country. The exportation of rice from China is said 
to be prohibited by the Imperial Government, because 
at best it is difficult for the country to raise enough 
of that commodity for home consumption. 

We arrived at Hankau at ten o'clock on the morn- 
ing of May thirtieth, and were soon registered at a 
fair European hotel, the better one of the two in the 
city being unable to accommodate us. Hankau and 
its immediate surroundings are said to contain a 
population of two and one-half million, of which about 
one thousand are foreigners, mostly English and Ger- 
mans. The Germans we found a good deal in evi- 
dence in business throughout our tour with some even 
in India. Hankau is claimed to be one of the greatest 
tea markets of the world, the business here being 
in the hands of the Germans and British, the tea being 
brought here from afar for blending. The local Vice- 
roy is a very progressive and enterprising Chinaman, 
being at the head of several large manufacturing 
plants. Because of its progressiveness and rapid 
growth, Hankau is referred to as the Chicago of 
China. This city is on the Yangtze-Kiang River, 
which, though six hundred miles from its mouth, has 
[207] 



DOING OVER. 

an average water depth of thirty-five feet, and as it 
is said to be navigable four hundred miles north of 
Hankau, gives one thousand miles of navigable water. 
Therefore, largest vessels afloat come to Hankau, prac- 
tically making it a port city. At the time of our visit, 
besides some large ocean-going vessels there were sev- 
eral warships anchored. 

While the Chinese as a whole are hard-working peo- 
ple, those we saw at Hankau beat all others in China. 
As elsewhere in China, everything here is carried 
upon the shoulders. Coolies were seen unloading tel- 
egraph poles from a barge, the largest of which were 
carried by two men, while one man would carry the 
smaller poles. In either case the poor fellows seemed 
weighted down to the very limit of endurance. With 
various cargoes to unload at Hankau, everything, so 
far as I could see, was carried through the streets 
upon the shoulders of men, and trudging along under 
their burden, there was a constant He Ha, Hi Ho, 
expression coming from their throats, which, evi- 
dently, to some extent, lightened their hard work. The 
native part of the city, like other Chinese cities, has 
narrow, crowded streets, and as in Canton, has attrac- 
tive shops, overhanging signs, and the usual disagree- 
able smell. The foreign settlement is built upon the 
concessions given Britain, France and Germany, and 
[208 1 



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contain many attractive modern buildings and good 
broad streets. 

A concession is a ninety-nine years' lease with a 
certain privilege of renewal or the purchase back by 
China at expiration. Our government has a very cred- 
itable consulate building, and at the time of our visit 
a very courteous Consul General, a Mr. Martin. 

With nothing of extraordinary interest to detain 
us longer at Hankau, we boarded the Japanese 
steamer Ta Foo, at eight o'clock, on the evening of 
May thirty-first, for the run of three hundred and 
sixty miles to Nanking. The Ta Foo had but six first- 
cabin staterooms, and the first-cabin passengers con- 
sisted of five Japanese and our party of three. The 
Japanese officials and passengers were very courte- 
ous, the ship clean, with very fair service. Of the 

Japanese passengers, a Mr. and Madam M , of 

Tokyo gave us a gracious invitation to visit and take 
dinner with them when we should arrive in their city. 

The weather, which at Hankau was clear though 
hot, continued during the one day and fifteen hours' 
run to Nanking, down the Yangtze. The Yangtze- 
Kiang, which has a width of twenty miles at its mouth, 
is from a quarter of a mile to two miles wide from 
Hankau well down toward its mouth. The scenery 
on both sides of the river, alternating lowlands and 
hills, with an occasional island out in the stream, 
14 [ 209 ] 



DOING OVER. 

seemed to me as beautiful as I had ever seen along 
any river. On top of one of the craggy islands, about 
three hundred feet high, could be seen a joss house, 
and how the devotees get up there to worship is a 
mystery, so far as I could see. Only two stops were 
made at landings, though from time to time the en- 
gines would be stopped while passengers would be 
brought out from the shore in native lighters. 

At Nganking, a good-sized city, we saw the eight- 
story pagoda, which the natives have anchored to a 
house, lest, as per some tradition, the pagoda take 
wings and fly away. 

June second, at half -past ten in the morning, we 
arrived at Nanking and looked for the foreign hotel 
which we were told was there, but instead, finally reg- 
istered at a Chinese hotel. The proprietor's card, 
which was written on paper for us, read as follows: 
"Hang Wan Lou & Co. Chip's Compradore, General 
Storekeepers, Anglo-Chinese Restaurant and Hotel, 
General Commission Agents, Hsia Kown, Nanking." 

Hsia Kown (pronounced as if spelled Shaw Kwan) 
is the name of the town on the river front where the 
above hotel is located, the city of Nanking proper 
being six miles away. Having registered at the Anglo- 
Chinese Hotel, the next in order was to arrange 
for the visit which would take us to the Ming Tombs. 
The hotel had but recently been arranged to accom- 
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modate Europeans, and as we were the first to come 
along, there was general confusion in getting us placed 
in our rooms; then more confusion and jabbering to 
arrange with the driver of a tumble-down carriage to 
take us out three miles, at which point we would re- 
quire horses to ride the remaining four miles to the 
Ming Tombs. We had gone but a short distance in 
the carriage when a half dozen Chinese horsemen on 
ponies came dashing up, each trying to get us to 
engage his particular pony for the trip to the tombs. 
So keen was the competition that soon one or two of 
them, to prove that they had the best and fleetest po- 
nies, started them running as fast as they could go, 
then came back to u|, did some more talking and again 
started their ponies on a wild flight. They did some 
such reckless riding that Buffalo Bill would have been 
tempted to engage them on the spot had he been there. 
Finally, upon arriving at the point where we must 
take to the ponies, we soon selected three of them and 
started afresh in the direction of the tombs. The road 
for a short distance was fair, but soon lead up and 
down hill along a bridle path. Meanwhile the sun 
was sending down heat almost unbearable, under the 
circumstances, and soon perspiration started from alj 
of our pores, which added fresh discomfort to tl: 
situation. Not enough with these troubles, my pon;^ 
persisted in an apparent endeavor to stand on his 
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head by first dropping on his knees as he stumbled 
along. In the meanwhile the owners walked back of 
the ponies urging them on, but the animals would not 
be hurried. The one I was on went quite fast enough 
for me under the circumstances, for, between keeping 
the pony from carrying out the above acrobatic feat, 
and at the same time trying to avoid going over his 
head, headforemost myself, I had more troubles, a 
good deal, than bargained for. 

After riding for about an hour we began nearing 
the tombs, the first signs being a lane about a quar- 
ter of a mile long, guarded on both sides by granite 
figures of elephants, camels and other animals, the 
like of which I had not previously seen. Turning off 
to the left, with the tombs not far distant, we passed 
between two herculean granite figures (guards), and 
still we were not at our journey's end. A kind of 
triumphal arch, then a few granite horses on either 
side of the way, some Chinamen under trees drinking 
tea, then up a flight of steps through another opening 
or gateway, and we were at the Ming Tombs. The 
latter consisted of a plain brick pile that was neither 
building nor other architectural make-up. Stone steps 
led up around the outside of the heap to the top 
where, evidently, there was at one time a chamber or 
tomb, but from which those of the Chinese Imperial 
family, buried there in the centuries gone by, had 
[ 212 ] 



DOING OVER. 

apparently been removed. There was nothing attrac- 
tive about the place, but we had seen the last resting 
place of the Mings up to about the thirteenth century. 

Nanking had been the capital of China beginning 
about four thousand years ago and up until the thir- 
teenth century, when it was moved to Pekin. After 
that the Imperial tombs of the Ming dynasty were 
built about forty miles outside of Pekin and used 
until the present dynasty of Manchus usurped the 
throne, about three hundred years since. 

Starting for the return from the tombs at Nanking, 
we stopped under the trees where the Chinamen were 
drinking tea, and where we sparingly indulged in 
some of the stuff, at the same time listening to an old 
fellow with a musical instrument on the order of a 
violin, who was trying to bring out some melody. His 
willingness, however, and apparent good nature we 
were required to accept in lieu of music. Going to 
where our ponies were being held by their owners we 
started back over the same path we had traveled to 
get to the tombs, and again passed through our former 
experiences — a hot sun, perspiration, flies, and my 
stumbling pony. Arriving at the point, finally, where 
we were to again take the rattle-trap carriage back to 
Hsia Kown, that carriage, with all its defects, looked 
never so good to me. Lest it be forgotten later in 
these notes, it may be well now to say that that Chi- 
[ 213 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

nese pony ride of eight miles almost completely dis- 
abled me for a week thereafter. But I had seen the 
Ming Tombs, something worth a little suffering ( t) . 

Nanking's population is variously estimated at 
about one-half million and but about one hundred for- 
eigners, the latter living in Hsia Kown. The wall 
around Nanking is twenty-eight and one-half miles 
long. It was mainly in his conquest of Nanking that 
the British commander, Gordon, is said to have re- 
ceived the name of Chinese Gordon. Nanking is still 
of much importance, Shanghai coming under its jur- 
isdiction. 

Our hotel at Nanking (Hsia Kown) was a novelty 
to us. Of two stories in height, we foreigners occu- 
pied the front rooms of the second floor and the Chi- 
nese guests the rear ones, an open court breaking the 
space between us, with a balcony around it. From 
the balcony we could look down into the court below 
where Chinamen sat smoking and drinking tea. We 
seemed curiosities to one another. The meals served 
us were very fair and prepared in foreign style, in- 
cluding some beef. The manager of the hotel had 
seen service as a steward on a British warship, hence 
his adeptness as to the meals. 

The principal pastime of the few foreigners here 
is tennis, with a game on the afternoon of our visit. 
A young Englishman whom we met while watching 
[214] 



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the game, courteously invited us to his bachelor quar- 
ters for a whisky and soda. The simplicity of his 
room's furnishings, the rickety steps leading up to 
it, and the absence in general of opportunities for 
making life a pleasure, made me wonder that any 
white man could long endure in such a place. 

We did not visit inside the walls of Nanking, and 
with twenty-four hours in the place as quite enough 
to satisfy our curiosity as to the Ming Tombs, we were 
glad to go aboard the British steamer Tatung for the 
remaining two hundred and forty miles back on the 
Yangtze to Shanghai. A dismal rain had come up, 
hence the Yangtze River scenery lost much of the 
beauty and charm experienced in the ride from Han- 
kau. We did, however, go ashore at a place called 
Chinkiang, where our steamer stopped three hours 
for a cargo. 

Our visit into Chinkiang was for pastime and nov- 
elty, though we saw principally rain and mud. Even 
in this place there is a resident British consul. Brit- 
ain certainly does safeguard and encourage her com- 
merce. 



[215 



CHAPTER XX. 

SHANGHAI AND THE CHINESE. 

On June fourth we arrived at Shanghai after about 
thirteen days of the most intense interest, during 
which we had traveled about one thousand miles by 
rail and six hundred miles by water in China, besides 
the six hundred and forty miles up the Yellow Sea 
and Gulf of Pechili. It felt good, nevertheless, to be 
in Shanghai where we w^ere to remain four days before 
sailing for Japan. 

The Hotel Astor at Shanghai gives very good serv- 
ice and accommodations. A pleasant feature, at least 
one to make us feel we were again in civilized parts, 
was the number of Americans in the city and at the 
Astor. To lounge about the bar of the hotel for any 
length of time, I am sure would momentarily make 
one forget they were not in a hotel in the States, for 
so many Americans were there, and needless to add, 
also, correspondingly numerous orders for cocktails. 

The weather was sultry, gloomy and with intervals 
of rain put much of a damper on our erstwhile ener- 
getic efforts at sight-seeing. 

Shanghai has a native population of about four 
hundred thousand and twelve thousand foreigners. 
[216] 



DOING OVEE. 

Because of the latter it is the most foreign of all the 
cities visited in this tour. The commerce of Shanghai 
is considerable, of which the opium traffic, as at Hong- 
kong, is by far not the least. France has a consider- 
able concession here, with the other foreigners occu- 
pying a considerable space called "the settlement." 
Some of the foreign powers, including the United 
States, have their own postoffice department here, 
hence, for instance, a two cent United States stamp 
will carry a letter to the States. So far as I could 
see. Uncle Sam's postoffice force here were all China- 
men. The streets in the settlement are good, and a 
very pleasant driveway takes one out to the Bubbling 
Well. Along this road, on either side, are some very 
handsome mansions. Jinrikishas in Shanghai are 
very numerous, and claimed about nine thousand of 
them in the settlement alone. Because of the early 
contemplated building of an electric street car line, 
trouble was expected from the rikisha coolies, because 
of their belief they would be driven out of the rikisha 
business by the electric line. 

The foreigners in the orient have little recreation 
outside the clubs, hence these are usually in evidence, 
there being several very good club buildings in Shang- 
hai, notably the British and German. A letter of in- 
troduction from a friend at home to a Mr. C— — here 
opened the way for the privileges of the British Club. 
[217 1 



DOINa OVEE. 

This latter is also used as an exchange where, at noon, 

the merchants congregate. Mr. C also seriously 

entertained me at his bachelor quarters for luncheon. 
I say seriously, with all due respect to my host, who, 
though courteous, probably did not more than smile 
during the whole procedure. He had kindly brought 
with him a friend, also an Englishman, who both 
smiled and enjoyed laughter. The above bachelor 
quarters appeared ideal for such a life, and hand- 
somely furnished. The Germans were, at the time of 
our visit, putting up a new club building that looked 
too much for Shanghai, and I was told that the Ger- 
man Kaiser was behind the enterprise, which, be- 
cause of its cost, will impose a hardship upon the 
comparatively few Germans here who will be called 
upon to sustain it. The Kaiser, however, apparently 
believes that the display of the great club building 
will add to German prestige in China, which, prob- 
ably from his Majesty's point of view, is sufficient 
reason for his encouraging an imposing club house. 
A kind of wheelbarrow cart on which the poor natives 
ride is a unique affair, built with a large wheel, and 
a board on either side on which the passengers sit with 
their legs dangling down. The affair has two handles, 
extending back wheelbarrow-like, and by which the 
coolie shoves the thing along. I saw as many as six 
people being thus wheeled through the streets pushed 
[218] 



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by one coolie. Built with the weight to rest on the 
wheel, the coolie pusher has only the task of balanc- 
ing and pushing the thing. 

Few people walk in Shanghai, the rikisha for those 
who can, and the wheelbarrow for those who prefer, 
or can not pay the rikisha price. 

The money value varies in different parts of China 
and is constantly changing because of the fluctuating 
exchange and value of silver, copper and gold, all of 
which must be taken into consideration by the bank's 
compradore. The compradors, of necessity, is a Chi- 
naman even in foreign banks here, because no man 
can figure all the connections as quickly and accu- 
rately as he can. The command, cliop chop (hurry, 
or be quick), so often heard in China, used mainly 
to coolies or servants, need not be applied to the com- 
pradore, who has figured the relative value of ex- 
change before you realize it. Needless to say that the 
fluctuations do not apply to the expenditure of a few 
dollars, but in large sums, and when drawing on your 
letter of credit at a bank. When giving cumshaw (a 
tip), the recipient does not trouble himself as to 
exchange rates, but quickly scrutinizes the amount 
given him. It is a fact all through the orient, that 
natives or known resident foreigners are not required 
to pay as much for anything as do the tourists, hence, 
when hiring a rikisha, or whatever service, the tour- 
[219 1 



DOING OVER. 

ist is expected to pay twice or even a greater sum over 
the regular fare. In consequence, the tourist who in- 
forms himself as to regular rates and pays them only 
is sure to have an argument on his hands if he tarries 
to argue. As a matter of fact, whatever the tourist 
pays below the expectation of the coolie or servant, 
he is sure to come in for a tongue lashing. The worst 
experience we had was at Hongkong, and it was di- 
rected at me, because, at the time, I was cashier for 
our party. Beginning with the entry into India, and 
continued throughout the orient, our party would 
make up a pot, contributing equally, and take turns 
about paying all expenses. It was my turn to pay 
the bills and fight the coolies, when leaving Hong- 
kong. To go aboard ship, which was anchored well 
out in the harbor, we missed the hotel tender and 
were required to go in a sampan (a native boat). 
Having informed myself as to the regulation cost of 
a sampan for the passengers and baggage out to the 
steamer, we selected one and started out. Almost im- 
mediately a demand was made upon us for the fare, 
which we said would be given when the ship was 
reached. Arriving at the latter the demand for fare 
was repeated, but I insisted our baggage must first be 
taken off, which, having been finally complied with, 
and our party also off the sampan, I paid the fare, 
adding some cumshaw. Immediately the man and his 
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DOING OVER. 

wife began a jargon of protest, which I disregarded, 
only watching that the luggage be taken aboard the 
ship. Perceiving that I meant to give no more money 
the boatman undertook to put one of our trunks back 
on his sampan. A demand that he let go the trunk 
or I would knock him overboard had the desired effect. 
However, when the baggage had all gone up the side 
of the ship, and after it a tirade of invectives in pidjin 
English, and no doubt some hot cuss words in Chi- 
nese in addition, and taken part in by the man and 
woman, they followed me until I had reached the 
steamer's deck. I now believed the incident closed 
for us, but soon was disabused of such composure of 
thought, for the sampan man appeared on deck, firing 
a further volley of vituperation at us, as we started 
into the cabin to look up our new quarters for the 
voyage to Shanghai. Having done the fellow no in- 
justice, I felt no qualms at letting him unload his 
apparent overcharge of wrath. This incident was 
but one of innumerable occurrences, of a like nature, 
throughout our entire tour in the orient. The sign- 
ing of chits (a kind of I. 0. U.) is said to be used to 
an extraordinary extent in China and are accepted 
for almost any purchase, the Chinaman having almost 
unlimited confidence in the foreigners' honesty. 

The large spectacles worn by the Chinese, who are 
referred to in pidjin English as four piecee-eye men 
[221] 



DOING OVER. 

(applying, also, to any one wearing glasses), are as 
large around in some cases as a silver dollar, and give 
the wearer a grotesque appearance. The long finger 
nails worn by the Chinese remind one of some of the 
pictures of the fellow in charge of Hades. The 
bearded Chinamen occupy a class by them^selves, be- 
cause, perhaps, comparatively few in number and 
because invariably old men, their beard and mustache 
being made up of very few hairs and these stick out 
like fine porcupine quills. 

Fortunate, indeed, must it be for the poor Chinese 
that the laws do not require them to wear many 
clothes; at any rate the coolie classes wear about as 
few rags as it would be possible and not be absolutely 
naked. Whatever may be said of Chinese immorality, 
they look with horror upon the pictures of nude or al- 
most nude women, sent into China as advertising mat- 
ter by the outside world. 

The narrow streets of native Shanghai, like those 
of Canton, are crowded with its population and at- 
tractive shops. An interesting visit was to a Chinese 
tea house situated in the centre of a dirty pool, and 
reached over light zigzag bridge walks. The tea house 
was quite as filthy looking and old as the pool, while 
sitting around, on rude benches, the natives were 
drinking tea. Notwithstanding its uninviting appear- 
ance from a hygienic point of view, the whole made a 
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rather picturesque situation. A mandarin's tea gar- 
den not far away had a wholly different aspect. Sur- 
rounded by a stone wall, ingress is given the foreigner 
upon payment of cumshaw to the man in attendance, 
while the plebian natives are excluded. Once inside, 
a more or less bewildering picture presents itself, for 
here are a number of small pavilion-like buildings 
wherein those autocrats of China, the mandarins, sip 
tea, or watch the dancing girls, or theatrical perform- 
ance, in a conveniently situated dancing pavilion, or 
sit around entertaining their friends when not talk- 
ing pidjin (business). A rather imposing stone 
structure is said to be the residence of Li Hung 
Chang 's son and wives. An immense dragon of wood, 
apparently, is placed along the top of the enclosing 
walls, with other dragons, statuary, carvings and dec- 
orations too intricate of description, located around 
the place, not overlooking an attractive little joss 
house, the whole making up what might, I would say, 
be called a Chinese paradise. 

The visit to a public joss house (house of worship) 
was not the least interesting of the sights seen; in- 
deed, it was, in a manner, of the greatest interest. 
With an immense Buddha seated in the centre of one 
of the buildings, and numerous smaller statues of the 
saint all around, the throng of worshipers kept coming 
and going. There were men and women, old and 
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young, boys and girls, all bent on the worship of some 
one of the statues. The devotees do not pray before 
all of the Buddhas, but to certain ones, depending 
upon what special request the worshiper has to make. 
A certain statue is said, for instance, to provide hus- 
bands or wives for those appealing to him, while an- 
other will hear the appeal of married people desiring 
an heir. All bring with them an offering, some a 
candle, which by the attendant will be lighted before 
the particular statue to whom an appeal is made; 
others bring joss sticks; the poor come with a string 
of queerly shaped little paper bags to be burned be- 
fore a particular statue. Between the burning of 
the candles, joss sticks and paper bags, a most con- 
glomerate odor pervaded the place. 

China has a great many Buddhists, in fact, they are 
more apparent than are Confucianists, so far as I 
could judge. Strange that Buddhism, which orig- 
inated in India, should be almost neglected there now, 
while thriving in Burma, Ceylon, China, Corea and 
Japan. 

A short, pleasant visit, while in Shanghai, was 
aboard the American cruiser Cincinnati, which was 
anchored in the Whampoo River. The officers of the 
Cincinnati were courteous and willingly showed us 
through their warship, adding hospitality in the way 
of some little refreshments. 

[ 224 ] 



CHAPTER XXI. 

JAPAN^ THE JAPANESE^ AND OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE OP 
JAPANESE LIFE. 

On the eve of our departure from China, I looked 
back upon the visit in that country as second only to 
that through India in interest; indeed, the people of 
China, if possible, were even more interesting than 
those in India. The latter country supplied the great- 
est interest and wonder in its architecture. While I 
probably would not care to make a second visit to 
China, there are a number of cities in India that 
would invite a second visit except for the distance. 
Having seen more of China than most tourists, we 
could now afford to drop the curtain on that coun- 
try, except as an interesting recollection ; accordingly, 
on June eighth, we boarded a tender at Shanghai for 
the twelve mile run down the Whampoo River to 
Wusung, where we went aboard the steamer Mongolia, 
of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, for the voy- 
age of seven hundred and forty miles across the China 
Sea and through the inland Sea of Japan to Kobe, 
Japan. 

The Mongolia, a large ship of six hundred and fif- 
teen feet length, and eighty-five feet from her bot- 
15 [ 225 ] 



DOINO OVEE. 

torn to the bridge, and sixty feet beam, was not as com- 
fortable nor as attractive a steamer as the Siberia, 
because so differently built; neither was the chow 
(Chinese for food) as good. With all her room, the 
Mongolia had but sixty first-cabin passengers, but, 
as with the Siberia, on our voyage from Hongkong to 
Shanghai, was said to be sold out from Yokohama to 
Frisco. Yokohama is the jumping-off place for those 
coming to America from that part of the orient. The 
Mongolia, like the Siberia, was lighted throughout 
with electricity, even to an electric bulb at the head 
of berths, besides radiators in the staterooms, in 
order that the temperature could be regulated by the 
passenger. 

Having now been away from home for six months 
and having already seen so much on the tour, I did 
not enthuse over the coming visit to Japan. The 
Mongolia rode the heavy seas of the China Sea with- 
out much perceptible rolling or pitching. The voy- 
age was more or less without especial interest, until 
early on the morning of the tenth we entered the 
harbor of Nagasaki. As the ship was to coal here, it 
meant a day's stay, hence we went ashore to see the 
place, which is said to have a population of nine 
thousand. Japanese health officers were early aboard 
the Mongolia, and when satisfied that no plague or 
other contagious disease prevailed, we were allowed to 
[226] 



DOING OVER. 

go ashore. We thus were given our first opportunity 
to set foot on Japanese soil and to see the Japanese 
at home. 

Nagasaki is not a beautiful place, but the visit 
proved interesting, mainly because we were in Japan 
at last. A pleasant addition was a rikisha ride of a 
few miles (one hour and a half run) across the hills 
to a small place called Moji. The latter, located on 
the coast, is mainly a fishing town, hence also largely 
dirty. The scenery between the place and Nagasaki 
as we wound up and down and around through the 
hills (low mountains) was very beautiful, and as it 
was the rainy season, vegetation was seemingly at 
its best. Nagasaki has some rather attractive stores 
where goodly supplies of Japanese art and curios are 
on sale. A fairly good hotel here, run on the foreign 
plan, is said to be one of the inducements to get tour- 
ists to remain over. More or less of a fishy smell per- 
vaded the atmosphere in the streets, in consequence- 
we were already being initiated to what was in store 
for us all through Japan. At a kind of general store 
where we visited, I Avas all but startled at the free- 
dom and seeming innocence with which one of the 
girl clerks conversed on delicate subjects of the sexes. 
The girl the while sat languidly on what appeared to 
be an ordinary wood box. In a languid way, also, 
she tried to interest the members of our party in the 
[227 1 



DOING OVER. 

purchase of some of the articles in her department. 
She was rather attractive, spoke English fairly well 
and even tried German, which she said she was study- 
ing. Nagasaki has the reputation of being a very 
immoral town, which is likely as a port city and coal- 
ing station. The coaling is done largely by women, 
girls and boys, who, of necessity, must be exposed to 
immoral influences. 

The coaling of the Mongolia was an interesting 
sight. On either side of the ship were a dozen impro- 
vised steps up to the port holes into which the coal 
was dumped. Backed up to each one of the steps was 
a coal lighter, from which the coal was shoveled into 
baskets and these passed along toward and up the 
steps. Women, girls and boys were closely stationed 
along the line and once a basket of coal was started 
from the lighter it did not stop, even for a moment, 
and was dumped into the port hole probably half a 
minute after it started. In doing so the basket must 
have passed through the hands of twenty persons. It 
took fifteen hours to thus take on three thousand four 
hundred tons of coal, and probably one thousand 
men, women, boys and girls were employed in the 
work. The wages received by these coolies range from 
thirty sen for the boys and girls, to fifty and eighty 
sen for the women and men, respectively, the sen 
equaling one-half cent in United States money. 
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Nagasaki's location and the harbor are picturesque, 
the latter being well land-locked and it is said to be 
well fortified. As a great coaling station there are 
said to be always one or more vessels here taking on 
fuel. At daylight on June eleventh, we left Nagasaki 
for the remaining run to Kobe, and my first intro- 
duction to Japan and its people was rather pleasing. 
Again steaming out into the China Sea, during the 
day we passed close to the Straits of Tsushima where 
the naval battle between the Russian and Japanese 
navies had taken place. Later in the day we passed 
through Shimonoseki Strait, a very narrow one, with 
the city of Shimonoseki on the one side on the main- 
land and the town of Mogi on the other side of the 
strait on the island of Kinsiu. Nagasaki, also, is on 
the latter island and is said to get her coal supply 
from near the town of Mogi. 

We were beginning to see more of Japan, for all 
along and on both sides of the strait for miles were 
towns and villages, with mountains from four thou- 
sand to five thousand feet high in the background. 
When, finally, we were through the Strait of Shi- 
monoseki, we proceeded into the Inland Sea of Japan. 
Islands, islands, everywhere and in all directions, 
the width of the sea varying from eight to forty miles. 
The day, as ideal as could be wished for, and with at- 
[ 229 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

tractive scenery and numerous watercraft, including 
an occasional steamer, foreign and Japanese, there was 
not wanting for good pastime. 

A thirty hours' run from Nagasaki brought us into 
the harbor of Kobe, about ten o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and health officers again scrutinized us, after 
which we went ashore. The inspection of first-cabin 
passengers all through the tour was not so much a 
hardship as it was on several occasions an inconven- 
ience, when, for the purpose, we had been routed 
out of bed rather early in the morning. The pro- 
ceeding usually consisted in corralling all the passen- 
gers in the dining room, when, as their names were 
called, they would answer and pass out, to be scru- 
tinized by the keen eyes of the health officers. If 
the passenger showed signs of illness or disease, pre- 
sumably he or she would be halted, though not a sin- 
gle passenger thus held up came within my observa- 
tion. The customs officials made our coming in easy, 
looking mainly for cigars, of which a limited amount 
for our own use was allowed duty free. 

Kobe, with the adjoining city of Hiogo^ is claimed 
to have about three hundred thousand population, and 
is the most important port city in Japan. We found 
a very fair hotel here, as to accommodations and serv- 
ice. The city has some very substantial buildings, 
modern and foreign in architecture, and its streets 
[230] 



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were broad and clean. The only object in the line of 
sight-seeing which we visited was the Moon Temple, 
located on top of a mountain, two thousand feet high. 
The climb afforded picturesque scenery, a source of 
satisfaction for the climb to an unattractive temple. 

As our party was almost out of funds, the first 
duty when Kobe was reached which appealed to us 
was to replenish our impoverished purses by the use 
of our letters of credit, hence a bee-line was made for 
the bank. The money was now yen and sen. Japan- 
ese money is made up as follows : Ten rin make one 
sen, and one hundred sen one yen, the latter about 
equaling fifty cents of United States money. 

As a Japanese guide is a necessary evil in Japan, to 
see the country, one of these was fortunately located, 
and who proved a very satisfactory one, by name 
Frank M. Toyoda, of Kobe, and whom we paid four 
and one-half yen a day and railway fare. In addi- 
tion he, of course, got a rake-off on all our purchases. 
Probably the greatest object of interest to the sight- 
seer in Kobe is the great bronze Buddha at Hiogo, 
said to be forty-eight feet high and eighty-five feet 
around the waist. 

Having presented three letters of introduction, one 

of them to a Japanese tea merchant, from friends at 

home, I was ready, with our party, for a ten days' run 

back through the country. Hence, on the day fol- 

[2311 



DOING OVEE. 

lowing our arrival in Kobe, we boarded a train for 
the ninety mile run west to Okayama. In the latter 
place we visited the tea gardens of an old Daimyo 
Castle, now used by the military. We also had our 
first meal {tiffin) in a Japanese inn here, served a la 
Japanese, and which we were required to eat Japan- 
ese fashion — ^with chop sticks, no knives or forks being 
visible. Another innovation to us was the request, 
before entering the hotel (inn), to take off our shoes 
and get into a kind of slipper or sandal, a proceed- 
ing none too comfortable, for the Japanese had gauged 
the size of the slippers from the Japanese point of 
view, hence we would have found greater comfort in 
sizes several times larger. In the slippers we pro- 
ceeded to the second story of the inn, and when we 
had come to the rooms assigned us, another request 
was made to drop the slippers and enter in our stock- 
ing feet. Holes in socks would have been an embar- 
rassing predicament, for we were surrounded with 
Japanese ne san (house maids), assigned to carry up 
our luggage and see that we were properly located. 
Japanese floors are covered with mats of about two 
and one-half inches in thickness, and as the rooms 
are minus furniture or chairs, we were invited to make 
ourselves comfortable by sitting or reclining upon 
the mattings, as we chose. In due time tiffin was 
brought in on trays, each guest being supplied with 
[232] 



DOING OVER. 

one, and upon which were a number of lacquer dishes 
containing our meal. The latter was made up of rice, 
fish soup, fish (fried and raw), tea (no bread) to 
which some sake was added on special order. Imag- 
ine, if possible, a fellow's first effort in downing a 
Japanese meal with chop sticks. Needless to say the 
soup could not be handled with the sticks, and as it 
was a kind of fish consomme, we drank it, the absence 
of spoons making us strangely resourceful. Sake, the 
Japanese national alcoholic beverage, unlike wine and 
beer in other countries, is generally drunk hot and 
thus said to taste best. At my first introduction to 
sake, both hot and cold, I decided it probably would 
be best neither way, and that it could be dis- 
pensed with without being missed, but it was not until 
we had boarded steamer at Yokohama for home five 
weeks later, that it disappeared entirely from our bill 
of fare. Sake, like other alcoholics I know of, need 
be but frequently met with in order to get on at least 
fairly good terms — more than can be said, I believe, 
of the Russian fire water, vodka, of which I made a 
casual acquaintance in Shanghai. In addition to the 
sight-seeing, I included a willingness to taste new 
things that came under my observation. 

To be required to take off shoes, to sit upon the 
floor as best one might, and be introduced for the 
first time to a Japanese meal, appeared to me entirely 
[233] 



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too much trouble to merely satisfy hunger. How- 
ever, later on in this excursion, when for ten days 
but little else than eggs and occasionally a tough 
chicken was added to the aforesaid bill of fare, hun- 
ger proved a good cook, and even the raw fish served 
with a sauce proved to be palatable. However dis- 
appointing the first Japanese meal was to us, it was, 
at least, part of the novelty that had been courted in 
the trip we had just started out to make, and which 
the stop at Okayama was only the beginning. Hav- 
ing finished wrestling with tiffin and profusely bowed 
out of the inn with sayonara (good-bye) by the land- 
lord and the ne san (housemaids) — the latter having 
been given the expected chadai (tea tip) — we started 
for the river, where in a native ferry boat, we were 
taken down about six miles to where was anchored the 
Eajima Maru, a small steamer, aboard which we 
crossed the Inland Sea thirty miles, to the island of 
Shikoku. In this latter short voyage, we saw in- 
numerable small islands and what is claimed to be 
part of the most beautiful scenery of the Inland Sea. 
The weather was ideal and with the novelty of the six 
mile ferry trip, and the scenery along the voyage 
across the sea, the four hours consumed on the way 
to Takamatsu proved very short ones. In the latter 
place our guide promptly found us another inn, where 
we stopped over night. The inn was half foreignized, 
[234] 



DOING OVER. 

hence the meals not altogether fishy, but the service 
as at Okayama; however, no beds but futons (com- 
forters) to sleep upon and cover with, and here fol- 
lowed our first introduction to Japanese beds. These 
futons, like the slippers at Okayama, were built for 
those of Japanese stature, hence, when finally tucked 
away for the night's rest each one of us, if stretched 
out full length, might throw pins at his toes, which 
plainly stared him in the face from the lower end of 
the cover. 

At ten 'clock on the following morning, June four- 
teenth, we started by train for Tadotsu, twenty-six 
miles via Kotohira. The attraction at the latter place, 
aside from the natives and their homes, was the 
Sailors' Temple, picturesquely situated upon a hill, 
which meant a climb of five hundred and seventy- 
two stone steps, — and the day was a hot one. 

As in India, so in Japan, the tourist requires, be- 
sides a guide, a guide book. The latter is authority 
for the information that the Sailors' or Travelers' 
Temple at Kotohira (also called Kompira) is regarded 
by the Japanese to be the most sacred on the island 
of Shikoku, and is therefore visited by many pilgrims 
upon whom the townspeople live. This temple, 
founded in the ninth century, has (as we later learned 
is the case with nearly every other temple in Japan) 
more or less curious legends connected with it. This 
[235] 



DOING OVEE. 

one also has three live sacred horses, instead of the 
usual one (alive or of wood or stone) later seen in 
connection with other temples. 

With nothing more to detain us in Kotohira, we 
continued our journey (via rail) to Tadotsu, arriv- 
ing there after a short ride, at five o'clock in the 
afternoon, where we spent the night, being thus in- 
troduced to Japanese inn number three. Here we 
enjoyed, for the first time, the luxuries of a Japanese 
hot bath. These are taken early in the evening, and 
our arrival was timely for the purpose. At the inn 
we were met, as at the previous ones, by the ne san 
(maids), who welcomed us with smiles, bowing low, 
some on their knees bowing to the floor, and all giv- 
ing the evening greeting, kon nichiwa (good after- 
noon). Our shoes again temporarily discarded for 
the Japanese arrangement, which for convenience 
sake I call slippers. Once assigned to our rooms, we 
immediately asked for kimonas in order that we might 
go to the bathroom. We began to realize that all the 
women in Japan, apparently, must wear smiles if lit- 
tle else, for it seemed that all we had thus far seen 
or come in contact wore full-blown smiles. This was 
especially so when chadai (a tip, or tea money, as it 
is properly referred to in Japan) was looked forward 
to, the receipt of which, on departure, would produce 
more smiles and bowing and the oft-repeated pleas- 
[ 236 ] 



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ing grateful expression arigato (thanks), or okini 
arigato (very thankful), and sayonara (good-bye). 
So it was with the maids who had brought the kimo- 
nas for each of our party, including therewith the 
ohi (sash) with which to fasten it. More new ex- 
periences were hovering around us, as did the girls, 
while we undressed and decked out in the kimonas. 
The latter, like almost everything else intended for 
domestic purposes, were intended for short Japan- 
ese, and therefore not to be found fault with for cov- 
ering us to but a little below the knees. We must 
have made ludicrous pictures to those maids, for their 
smiles broadened into grins and frequent outbursts 
of giggles. They evidently had promised themselves 
even more sport, for they looked pleased and ex- 
pectant, and now conducted us to where the bath- 
room was located. The bathroom, I said, but a tub- 
room is the better name, for the place contained a 
kind of tub large enough for two, assuming the two 
did not each take up too much space. The modus 
operandi is to first thoroughly soap and rinse one's 
self, then get into the tub of hot water of a tempera- 
ture from one hundred to one hundred and twenty 
degrees Fahrenheit, and remain (if one can stand the 
heat) for about five minutes, then get out and make 

[ 237 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

way for the next. Every guest in the inn is expected 
to use the same tub and water. The maids having 
previously brought soap and towels, stood and looked 
at the proceeding, as if expected to be helpful in 
some way, until driven out. If told to get out they 
appeared confused, or not to understand that they 
should not remain and see that we did the thing 
properly. If urged to go they would start for the 
door, then look around, as if expectant that we would 
change our mind and have them remain or assist. If 
commanded to get out they would take another look 
back before closing the door, and not infrequently 
take a final peek in at the window before disappear- 
ing entirely. From our experiences in Japan, from 
beginning to end, it finally occurred to me that the 
Japanese women were a mixture of innocence and 
immorality, if such a combination be possible. They 
are innocent, because from early training they appar- 
ently do not know morality, as the world at large un- 
derstands it. A Japanese conversing with us on the 
subject argued that while their girls might be called 
immoral before marriage, he understood that women 
in other countries were immoral after marriage. A 
Japanese girl, it is said, can marry and be respectable, 
even though she may have traveled Japan^ or lived 
as a so-called small wife with a foreigner, as is fre- 
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quently the case, or if otherwise immoral, the arrange- 
ment for a small wife being made with the girl's 
mother. Japanese women are, however, free from any 
boisterousness, so far as I could see. They appeared 
gentle and even childlike, their small stature making 
the latter the more life-like. The aforesaid bath ex- 
perience was repeated, more or less the same, all 
through the ten days ' trip upon which we had started. 
Oftentimes the water was so hot that it had to be 
tempered before we could get into it, and then, not 
infrequently, one or the other of our party w^ould let 
out an involuntary howl when getting in. Usually 
we were about the color of a broiled lobster when we 
came out of the tub. The Japanese are said to enjoy 
the water at a temperature of from one hundred and 
twenty to one hundred and thirty degrees, and some 
of the tubs, or rather tanks, made of brick, are so 
arranged that the fire is under them, the Jap getting 
in when the water is but warm and remaining until 
as hot as he can stand it. In one of the villages 
which we visited later what looked to us like an ordi- 
nary lard kettle was used for a bathtub, and was 
large enough only for one person to squat down at a 
time. Our first hot bath proved a delightful surprise 
and experience, hence we took them daily while on 
[ 239 ] 



DOING OVER. 

this particular trip through the interior. We found 
the people of the rural districts friendly, though evi- 
dently curious of us. 

The island of Shikoku appeared to be well under 
cultivation, thickly settled, and at time of our visit 
wheat and barley were being harvested, the natives 
using the flail for separating the grain from the 
sheaf, a practice frequently noticeable throughout 
Japan. 

The night's experience at Tadotsu was much like 
that of the previous one as to sleeping upon the floor, 
the short futons and the meals, but an annoying, and 
more or less amusing incident was added just as we 
had settled into our first sleep. Japanese hotels, or 
inns, built like many of their homes, are without 
doors, and instead sliding shutters encircle the whole 
house, so that it can be entirely opened up to view 
or as entirely closed. The incident referred to above 
was the creaking, sliding noise, made when moving 
the shutters into place for the night. The girls, of 
course, were doing the work, and when enough noise 
had been made to awaken all of our party, there was 
a chorus of voices demanding to know what the racket 
was all about, but the maids continued their work 
until we had been completely enclosed, and to all ap- 
pearances there was not a door or window from which 
[240] 



DOING OVER. 

a person could make his escape if his life depended 
upon his so doing. The above experience was re- 
peated every night, and always about the time we had 
gone to sleep, so that we really had to go to sleep 
twice, so to speak. Japanese novel experiences were 
coming to us fast, and these few days, beginning at 
Nagasaki, June tenth to date, were as full of new 
experiences as the most enthusiastic experience hunter 
could have wished. 



16 r 241 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THROUGH THE INTERESTING INLAND SEA TO THE SACRED 
ISLAND OF MIYAJIMA. 

Having finished with what we had come to the island 
of Skikoku to see, we went aboard the Tonegawar 
Maru from Tadotsu, at four o'clock, on the morning 
of the fifteenth, for the eighty miles' run back across 
the Inland Sea, this time to the island of Miyajima. 
The Inland Sea, in all probability, was seldom so 
thoroughly well seen by tourists as by our party. The 
eighty miles to Miyajima represented a zigzag course 
between the innumerable islands, the latter generally 
alive with green vegetation or forests, thus making the 
whole a picturesque scene, added to by fishing boats 
and junks, more or less, along the entire course. The 
Tonegawar Maru made several stops en route, one of 
these being at Kure, on the mainland, where there is 
an arsenal, and where, also, there were in the harbor 
four or five Japanese cruisers, two torpedo boat de- 
stroyers and two submarine boats. All of these looked 
very formidable, and with the harbor and Kure well 
land-locked, and for all we knew, what we saw super- 
ficially around about, was but another of those oft- 
repeated situations being literally carried out — in 
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time of peace, preparing for war. To get into Kure 
harbor it is necessary to go tiirough the Strait of 
Ondo, which does not appear to be over three hun- 
dred feet wide. A Japanese legend says that during 
the reign of one Kiyamori the Strait of Ondo had be- 
come filled and passage blocked, and that Kiyamori 
commanded the sun to stand still until the work of 
again clearing a passage had been completed; that 
the sun had complied but avenged itself by taking 
Kiyamori 's life. A stone shrine on a rock on one 
side of the strait, probably intended as a kind of guard 
or lighthouse to the passage, is referred to as Kiya- 
mori 's funeral pile. It was five o'clock in the after- 
noon of the day that we reached the harbor of Miya- 
jima, making the run of eighty miles from Tadotsu 
thirteen hours of pleasure and very interesting. 

Miyajima, an island only about one-half mile out 
from the mainland, is one of the three chief sights of 
Japan, from the Japanese point of view, Ama-no- 
hashi-date and Motsushima being the other two. Miya- 
jima is, besides, one of the most sacred spots to Japa- 
nese because of the sacredness of the temple there and 
the legend connected therewith. Going ashore in a 
small boat which had come out to meet us, we were 
soon assigned quarters in the Japanese inn, having 
previously been given the usual reception and greet- 
ing hon nichiwa (good afternoon) by the maids. Our 
[243 1 



DOING OVEE. 

party was assigned rooms in a small one-storied annex, 
or cottage, about three hundred feet away from the 
main inn and up toward a ravine in the mountain, 
which almost immediately builds up from the spot. 
This annex, built purely along Japanese architecture 
and taste, seemed more like a large playhouse ; it did, 
however, have a table and chairs, all very plain and 
in keeping with the surroundings. Except for a few 
kakimonas (Japanese paintings) hung to the side of 
the rooms, no decorations were seen. No portion of 
Japanese homes or inns are painted — nothing but the 
wood brightly scraped — and everything looked im- 
maculately clean and pleasing. This one, but re- 
cently built, looked so frail that one can but wonder 
whether it might not be carried away by the winds. 
How the Japanese can avoid freezing during the cold 
winters in these frail houses is a mystery to me. With 
the beach not more than five hundred feet away, the 
thickly wooded mountain in the background, a moun- 
tain stream to one side, lazily finding its way to the 
sea^ here was an ideal situation, one to awaken senti- 
mental thoughts in the most serious mind. All the 
above beauty seemed easily taken in at a glance, un- 
less too enraptured to see anything clearly. In the 
meanwhile, as we had arrived at just about hot bath 
time, we had practically the same experience with the 
maids and the hot water, as in Tadotsu. Except with 
f 244] 



DOING OVEE. 

the addition of table and chairs at meals, our gen- 
eral experiences as to sleeping and food was a repeti- 
tion of the previous ones on this trip. 

As Miyajima is one of the popular sights for for- 
eigners, a company wished to put up an European 
hotel, but the Imperial Government would not allow 
it, preferring, as we were told, to continue the simple 
architecture of the Japanese. It is as likely, however, 
that the government forbade the building of a mod- 
ern foreign hotel because of the sacredness of the 
island, that part in which the inn is located being 
known as Omoto Park. From the sea the view of 
Miyajima is no less interesting, for with a very large 
torii of wood, built out into the water as the first 
object of interest, backed up on shore by the temple, 
and innumerable toro (a stone post-like shrine), the 
village and the inn (the latter off to one side), and the 
mountain of about one thousand eight hundred feet 
high as a background, the whole makes up a picture, 
if once seen, for a scenic artist to dream about. The 
above torii (a kind of gateway to Buddhist temples) is 
said to be the largest in Japan, and when from time 
to time age and the effect of the water have rotted the 
uprights, a new one is erected. This one is built out 
into the water because of some legend connected with 
it, and, so far as I know, the only torii in Japan in a 
like position. Miyajima, according to Japanese leg- 
r 245 1 



DOINO OVEE. 

ends, is dedicated to the Shinto goddesses, and tradi- 
tion has it that the first temple on the present site 
was built during tlie reign of the Empress Suika in 
the seventh century. An ancient religious rule for- 
bade all births or deaths on the island. Should a 
birth still take place here, it is usual to send the 
woman to the mainland for thirty days, while if a 
death occurs the body is sent across to the mainland 
for interment and the chief mourners required to re- 
main away from the island for fifty days for purifica- 
tion purposes. No dogs are allowed on the island. 
With its three thousand population, these latter must 
keep very alert to prevent births or deaths upon the 
island. Though for centuries dominated by Buddhist 
priests, the temple at Miyajima, during the separation 
of Shinto and Buddhist temples, about 1872 was again 
diverted to Shinto worship. 

Shintoism is little more than nature and ancestry 
worship, and does not teach any theory of man's des- 
tiny or moral duty. It was, therefore, an easy mat- 
ter for the Buddhist missionaries, during the seventh 
century, to convert Japan to Buddhism. At the time 
of separation of Buddhist from Shinto temples, Shin- 
toism was decreed to be the state religion of Japan. 
Buddhism is, however, apparently too firmly rooted 
to be easily dismissed. At birth, a Japanese is said 
to be placed under the especial protection of some one 
[246] 



DOING OVEE. 

of the Shinto gods, though at death he is buried 
a Buddhist. This is said to apply to all except the 
small number who have continued Shintoists through 
the centuries that Buddhism sapped the Shinto tree. 
Buddhism came to Japan from India via China and 
Corea. The temple at Miyajima has no beauty, from 
any point of view, to recommend it to the foreigner. 
We were given the opportunity, on payment of the 
usual fee, to see the temple dancing girls go through 
some evolutions called dancing. These functions, and 
such as go with temple ceremonial, so far as I saw 
them, and the temples themselves, command my re- 
spect in the same manner that I regard the beliefs 
of all who happen to worship differently from my 
own early training, but worship differs greatly the 
world over. The visit to Miyajima has some decided 
redeeming features — its beauty, as previously re- 
ferred to. 



247 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

SIMPLE LIFE OP THE JAPANESE AS SEEN BY RIKISHAS 
THROUGH THE INTERIOR. 

On June sixth, after the usual distribution, by our 
cashier, of tea money to the maids, and they had 
bowed us out of the inn with the parting sayonara 
(good-bye) ofttimes repeated, we crossed, by ferry 
boat, the narrow strait to the mainland and town of 
Miyajima on the Sanyo Eailway, where in a little 
while, aboard train, we went to Hiroshima, about an 
hour's ride. 

Hiroshima has little for the sight-seer, but was for 
us to be the starting point for a one hundred and 
seventeen mile rikisha ride through the interior and 
primitive Japan. A Daimyo's garden was, however, 
visited; it was an attractive place, where in the past 
autocrats had lived and no doubt enjoyed the best 
that Japan produced. As with the possessions of 
other old-time feudal lords of Japan, the Daimyo's 
garden at Hiroshima was long since confiscated by 
the State and is now used as a kind of military post. 
At the Japanese hotel we were again met by the low- 
bowing maids and chorus of kon nichiwas, and in 
other respects were going through the formalities 
r 248 1 



DOING OVER. 

which were already beginning to seem natural to us. 
The usual diet of fish, fish soup, rice, tea, and raw 
fish, the hot baths, also began to be looked upon not 
with pleasure so much as things wholly a part of 
Japanese life, which we were sharing from choice as 
a necessary part of the present trip. 

During the evening, our guide made arrangements 
with rikisha coolies for an early start the next morn- 
ing for the one hundred and seventeen mile rikisha 
ride through the country to Ezuma on the north 
coast. Therefore an early breakfast and seven o 'clock 
start began the day's adventures, every man of us 
and the guide in rikishas, two coolies doing the serv- 
ice of a horse. The morning was threatening with 
rain as we left the hotel. The coolies started off at 
a jogging pace, which they kept up steadily for about 
two hours. Meanwhile we had reached the rural dis- 
tricts, and soon beautiful mountain scenery loomed up 
before us. We had gone through miles of cultivated 
fields (largely rice paddies), and were now winding 
up through the mountain road, an extra coolie pusher 
having been added. Beside the road, close to our left, 
the thickly-wooded mountain reared high above us, 
while on the other side and below the roadway, a 
mountain stream was ceaselessly wending its way 
seaward, wooded mountains also forming a back- 
ground. Constantly changing was the scenery, with 
[249] 



DOINO OVER. 

a ravine here, a deep cut there, but always the tower- 
ing mountains on both sides, except that at times the 
gap would narrow to a point when the roadway and 
stream would seem to dispute the right-of-way. Fre- 
quently the view would open upon a valley, dotted 
here and there with peasant homes and fields, with 
the peasants at work. The roadway, meanwhile, led 
us up and down hill with the stream always as a 
companion. Japan had evidently not just emerged 
from a drouth, for vegetation and forest looked as 
fresh as could be. A drizzling rain had come up, 
but on we went, the coolies seemingly unconscious of 
any fatigue. By noon we had gone about twenty 
miles, passing village after village, and wherever the 
land was arable, peasants could be seen at work, either 
planting rice stocks, or with the flail were beating 
barley or wheat sheaf to separate the grain. In places 
men were at work with bullocks, getting the ground 
ready for rice planting, while the women were set- 
ting the rice plants. The latter is done with the 
ground covered with water, hence the women were 
almost knee deep in the mud and water. The rice 
paddies are small, and from the number of women 
and girls at work, the planting is apparently done on 
the community basis, that is, all combine to plant the 
neighboring paddies in turn. 

A rest of an hour and a half for tiffin was taken at 
[250] 



DOING OVEK. 

a village where a small Japanese inn served our party 
the usnal fare. The lunch and rest being over, the 
coolies started off with us apparently as fresh as in 
the morning. The scenery as we proceeded was a 
repetition of that of the morning, except that it 
seemed to grow more attractive if that were possible. 

The peasants' homes looked well built, and as 
though they could be kept warm with the ten- to 
twelve-inch thick, thatched roofs, all in great con- 
trast to the hovels of the peasants in India, Barma 
and China. 

The Mikado's subjects looked sturdy in physique, 
and happy if these peasants portray Japan as a whole. 
As we proceeded, passing village after village, those 
who saw us gazed with apparent wonder, and if we 
stopped only a short while we were soon surrounded 
by the juvenile population, as well as many grown 
ones. Foreigners are said to rarely ever pass this 
way, and then, usually, they have been missionaries, 
of which none had visited here in three years. At 
seven o 'clock in the evening we had arrived at a town 
called Miyoshi and where the usual greetings were 
extended us as we stopped before the inn. The hot 
bath after the day's rikisha ride of forty- two miles 
was this time the greatest luxury; even the meal was 
tucked away with a relish. Strolling around the town 
after supper, we created no little stir. Two of our 
[ 251 ] 



DOING OVER. 

party were over six-footers, at whom the Japs would 
look with evidences of wonder and admiration. Early 
to bed and early to rise on the morrow was the word, 
thus with nothing of unusual interest to keep us up, 
we were soon stretched out upon the ever present 
short futons (comforters), and with mosquito netting 
arranged practically to cover the whole room, early 
morn was come all too soon. 

At half-past six, after a hurried breakfast, every 
man was again in his rikisha and a fresh start for 
the day was begun. Villages and scenery continued 
as interesting as on the preceding day and by eleven 
o'clock, when a stop was made for rest and tiffin, we 
had traveled seventeen miles. A misty rain had joined 
us for the day. Little Shinto shrines could be seen 
from time to time all along the road, adding much to 
the impressiveness of the scenery. By half -past seven 
we had gone fifty-two miles since morning and were 
now at a village called Mitoya. The inn here was 
decidedly the poorest we had patronized, and was the 
only one that did not look or smell clean. We had 
come at a bad time, however, for merchants were here 
from abroad buying silk cocoons, and in consequence 
the inns were all crowded, hence we had to make the 
best of it. We were here told that no white man had 
ever before visited the village. The village guard or 
policeman came to the inn demanding passports, ap- 
[252] 



DOING OVER. 

parently not being aware that the need for these had 
been abolished in Japan five or ten years ago. That 
we were curiosities was undoubted, for the villagers 
could be seen gathered in the streets looking up at our 
rooms to get a possible glimpse of us. 

Mitoya and the surrounding country raises a great 
many silk cocoons, hence silk merchants from all over 
Japan are said to come here to make their purchases. 
Needless to say we were all tired out after the long 
day's journey, and had no disposition to tarry up 
late. 

Seven o'clock the following morning, June nine- 
teenth, again found us in our rikishas and the journey 
was renewed, the finish having been made at noon at 
Kitsuki, our objective point. We had traveled twenty- 
three miles since seven o'clock, completing the one 
hundred and seventeen miles in twenty-nine hours, 
actual going time, less about three hours consumed 
in the stops for luncheon the two preceding days. One 
would think the coolies, who had come the one hun- 
dred and seventeen miles, would be about dead after 
the long journey, but instead, they were well enough 
to have sat up and gambled all the preceding night, 
so we were told. 

"We were now on the north coast of Japan, on the 
Sea of Japan. Kitsuki is famous because of the sa- 
credness to the Japanese of the great temple of 
[253 1 



DOING OVEE. 

Ezuma, which is located there. It is claimed that a 
quarter million of Japanese pilgrims visit Ezuma 
yearly. The town of Kitsuki, with a population of 
twenty-five thousand, has nothing of beauty to rec- 
ommend it, particularly, however, it is a favorite sea 
bathing resort. The temple of Ezuma disputes with 
those of Ise the honor of being the most ancient and 
venerable shrine of the Shinto religion. Ezuma, like 
other Shinto temples we had seen, is made up of a 
group of buildings, with the usual beautiful hill for- 
est, including the noble Cryptomeria tree as a back- 
ground. The temple or shrine itself is plain, and 
except for the graceful lines of the roof would be 
lacking entirely of architectural beauty, but does, 
however, represent the pure Shinto style of simplic- 
ity of design. Included in the group of buildings is 
one for the sacred horse (in this case made of wood). 
Included with innumerable Japanese legends is one 
that certain gods that roam by night have been known 
to purloin the horses of peasants or others, and ride 
them almost to death before morning. Therefore, 
should the aforesaid gods decide on more such night 
rides the sacred one is ready for the purpose. These 
sacred horses, where alive, are objects of pity, since 
their only function in life is to stand quietly, year 
after year, with no exercise but to yawn or stretch, 
if capable of that, until death relieves them. 
[254] 



DOING OVER. 

The province of Ezuma, like all Japan, except a 
good deal more so, is filled with legends of wonderful 
happenings by and to the gods of monsters and speak- 
ing animals, and caves, through which entrance to 
Hades is obtained. Susano-o, born from the nose of 
the creator, Izanagi, and brother to the sun goddess, 
Anna-terasu, is the hero of some of the tales. The 
high priest of Ezuma, who boasts of being the eighty- 
second descendant in direct line from the god Susa- 
no-o, used to be styled Iki-gami, that is, a living god. 
The sacredness, therefore, of these high priests must 
command profound respect from the Japanese. The 
latter, however, except for the women, are said as a 
whole to not let religion cut much figure with them. 
Most of those whom we saw in and about the temples 
were women and girls. Our guide, however, rarely 
ever failed, when visiting a temple, to clap his hands 
before a shrine in the usual way, for the purpose of 
attracting the attention of the god, and then, seem- 
ingly, offer some short prayer. The treasure house 
of Ezuma is said to contain a number of treasured 
articles, including fine old kakimonas. 

Wherever we have been thus far, we find English 
spoken by many, in fact, I began to marvel at the 
number of them, many speaking it fairly well. We 
learned, as we continued through the country, that 
English is taught in the schools throughout Japan. 
[255] 



DOING OVER. 

Our experience in the hotel upon arriving at Kit- 
suki differed little from that heretofore, except that 
the ne san (house maids) were more accustomed to 
seeing foreigners, hence, perhaps, more profound bows 
to us, and as our coming was at noon, the greeting 
was ohayo (good morning). 

Being situated on the coast and because of its pop- 
ularity, Kitsuki has many foreign visitors, the ma- 
jority coming by steamer through the Sea of Japan, 
with Maizuru as one of the starting points, and in 
which direction we must work our way back to Kobe, 
if we did not wish to repeat the one hundred and 
seventeen mile rikisha ride back to Hiroshima. The 
hotel at Kitsuki was, in consequence, more or less 
foreignized, and we had, for the moment, escaped 
from the exclusively fish, rice, chop stick service, 
served in trays on the floor. Shades of some good 
steaks we had all had in times past were frequent 
ones, and scarcely a meal passed that some one of our 
party did not express preference for one to be served 
then and there. We might as well, however, wish for 
a steak from one of the sacred horses, assuming such 
a steak worth the wish. 

Our visit to Ezuma being finished, we started on the 

morning of June twentieth for the return to Kobe^ 

where we had left our trunks for the return from the 

trip we were now making. Some rare experiences 

[256] 




■* . 



DOING OVEE. 

were yet in store for us, however, for we were still 
away from the railroads. The start from Kitsuki was 
by rikishas for fourteen miles to Shiobara, the same 
coolies who had brought us to Ezuma again being in 
the shafts. At Shiobara we went aboard a small 
steamer, the Noikenkow Maru, and sailed the full 
length (ten miles) of Lake Shinji to Matsue, a city of 
thirty thousand population, where, after tiffin in a 
Japanese inn, we boarded another sm^all steamer for 
the ten mile run through the Strait of Sakai to the 
town of that name ; thence aboard the steamer Nagota 
for the one hundred and thirty mile voyage on the Sea 
of Japan for Maizuru, Avhere we arrived the following 
morning at eight o'clock, after a thirteen hours' trip. 

On the trip through Lake Shinji, we met the gov- 
ernor of the Province of Ezuma, a very courteous in- 
dividual who had traveled in the United States, and 
who pointed out such interesting points as appeared 
along the trip. The scenery, through Lake Shinji 
and Strait of Sakai was very picturesque, being dot- 
ted with peasants' homes and cultivated land. 

Up to the present time we had seen nothing but 
attractive scenery in Japan. There was nothing of 
special interest in Shiobara or Matsue, except that we 
proved drawing cards for the natives, by whom we 
were surrounded as the clown of a circus might be if 
turned loose upon the streets. 
17 [ 257 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

The children of Japan were not things of beauty, 
for, notwithstanding the cleanliness of the grown 
population, the children, with but few exceptions, 
seemed to be ignorant of the use of handkerchiefs or 
a substitute thereof. Strapped to their backs every 
young girl seemed to have an infant; some of these 
girls were still so young and while at play the little 
one attached to their back was at times head down- 
ward or off to the side or in some uncomfortable po- 
sition, depending on the particular attitude of the 
one carrying it. 

One of the members of our party carrying a kodak 
was kept busy while in Japan, as in fact he had been 
all through the tour to date. 

A goodly number of the Japanese population of 
men, the coolies particularly, wear but few clothes, 
many only trunks with the addition, frequently, of a 
kind of blouse or shirt. The weather was not yet hot 
enough for such light raiment for any one not accus- 
tomed to it. 

The steamer Nagota, from Sakai to Maizuru, like 
other things met with in Japan, had been built for the 
Japanese and not tall foreigners, hence the decks 
were so low that the members of our party were re- 
quired to walk about in a stooping position. The 
steamer's cabin was very small, having berths for but 
six passengers, and with a dining table in the centre 
[258] 



DOING OVER. 

of the cabin, if cabin it could be called, left but a 
narrow space between the berths, or bunks, properly 
speaking. In consequence, but one or two persons 
could well dress or undress at a time. The Japanese 
passengers aboard slept somewhere, no doubt, but I 
was not interested, for with a rough sea our small 
steamer was cutting discomforting capers, in conse- 
quence of which I gave up my supper immediately 
after eating it and soon thereafter sought my bunk 
for the night. 

Early the following morning, in a bright sunlight, 
the shores of Japan loomed up beautifully before our 
eyes. We went ashore at Maizuru about eight o'clock 
and at once boarding another very small steamer, 
went back eighteen miles over the same course we had 
just come, to Miyazu. From the latter place via rik- 
isha and a ferry boat we went to Ama-no-hashidate 
(the latter meaning suspended bridge). At Ama-no- 
hashidate we were seeing the second of the three chief 
sights of Japan, Miyajima having been the first, and 
Matsushima, which we did not see at all, being the 
third. The feature of Ama-no-hashidate is a very 
narrow strip of land a mile long, covered with pines, 
between the sea and a small lake. To get the view 
properly it was necessary to climb four hundred or 
five hundred feet upon a neighboring mountain, stoop 
over, then look down between one's legs at the strip 
[ 259 ] 



DOING OVER. 

of land. In this position the strip has the appearance 
of being suspended in mid-air, hence its appearance as 
a bridge, provided one draws upon the imagination 
to substitute a bridge for the strip of pine-covered 
land. The general scenery from the mountain is 
very picturesque, for the village is at the base of it, 
the sea close by, the mountains far and near, the pine 
strip adding a delicate touch of what might, perhaps, 
be called a freak of nature. The whole amply justi- 
fied the climb to the position upon the mountain from 
which was seen this panorama of beauty. 

Before returning to Maizuru, we visited the great 
Buddhist Temple of Chionji at Miyazu, where, upon 
payment of a fee, we were shown the treasures of the 
temple, made up of paintings, carvings, and various 
other things. The chief Buddhist priest also showed 
us what was to be construed as marked attention. 
The latter consisted of serving us sweet meats and 
tea while we all sat upon the floor as near Buddhist 
style as possible, taking hold of the tea cups, 
and draining the contents in true Japanese cus- 
tom — in three and one-half gulps or swallows, the 
while giving out a queer sound not unlike a gurgle. 
Our return to Maizuru was like that of coming to 
Ama-no-hashidate, except that a rain having come up, 
we were forced into the small cabin of the very small 
steamer (from Miyazu), where we were required to 
[ 260 ] 



DOING OVER. 

take off our shoes and sit upon the floor, huddled 
together with a number of first-cabin Japanese pas- 
sengers. As I had not yet mastered the art of sitting 
a la Japanese, my position during the two hours' ride 
to Maizuru was not a happy one. At the latter place 
we put up for the night. Either we had become accus- 
tomed to the unaccustomed, or nothing of special in- 
terest here attracted our attention, since my note book 
was silent upon the subject. 

Maizuru, said to be a clean city, is also a kind of 
naval station. We here enjoyed for the last time the 
sensation of a strictly Japanese diet, the sleeping upon 
the floor, and other rural experiences. For head rests 
when sleeping, instead of the makuro (wood head 
rest), supposed to be used by the Japanese, we had 
a sort of short, round pillow, apparently stuffed with 
sawdust, hence not much softer than the makuro. The 
latter is used by the girls, exclusively, to prevent 
mussing the hair. The arrangement of the hair for 
a Japanese girl is both a tedious, and to them a costly, 
one, hence the use of the makuro, by which means the 
hair is said to remain in place for about one week. 



261 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

KYOTO, THE SHOW TOWN OF JAPAN. 

At half -past nine on the morning of June twenty- 
second, we boarded the train at Maizuru for the final 
ride of one hundred and six miles back- to Kobe, ar- 
riving about noon, tired, and I, for one, immensely 
glad to get back. 

During the ten days' round just completed we had 
only covered six hundred and eighty miles, of which 
two hundred and eighty-five was by water, one hun- 
dred and forty in rikishas, and two hundred and fifty- 
five by rail. The trip, though accompanied by some 
hardships and innumerable inconveniences, was yet 
full of interest as it was also of insight into Japanese 
rural life. 

But the visit in Japan, in a manner, was still before 
us, for there was yet to see Kyoto, Yokohama, Tokyo, 
Nikko, Narro, Nagoya, Miyanoshita and others, and 
only four weeks before sailing day for home. 

The rainy season, by this time, had set in thor- 
oughly well, and but few clear days were experienced 
during the remainder of the time. 

Kobe had no attractions to longer hold us, hence 
on June twenty-third, the day following our return, 
[262] 



DOING OVER. 

we boarded train in the morning for Kyoto, forty- 
seven miles away. This short trip was through more 
beautiful landscape scenery, included with which were 
many acres of rice paddies. 

A batch of letters from home and friends, await- 
ing us in Kyoto, dissipated all thought of looking into 
partly depleted purses until the aforesaid letters had 
been perused. Happy over news from home, the pros- 
pect for seeing Kyoto at its best had not the tiniest 
cloud, except rain clouds and rain, to mar the pleas- 
ure in store for us. Kyoto is referred to as the show 
town of Japan and proved so from my point of view. 
Its show feature is largely its shopping facilities, 
probably the best in Japan. The city, said to have 
three hundred and eighty thousand population, is in- 
teresting as far as Japanese cities go. There is an ab- 
sence in all of them of any architectural attraction ex- 
cept for an occasional temple. While the streets are 
clean, there is here, as proved the case in other Japa- 
nese cities, the abominable traffic of human excrement 
being hauled through the streets. While handled dif- 
ferently and better than in China, yet it does not add 
to one's happiness if possessed of a sensitive or keen 
scented sense of smell. Kyoto has a very creditable 
foreign hotel, the Miyako, located upon an eminence 
overlooking the city. The service was very fair, a 
portion of the building new, and all intended to make 
[ 263 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

the foreigner feel at home. There were no longer 
beds and meals upon the floor, rice, fish and chop 
sticks, but real beds to sleep upon, tables, chairs, forks, 
knives, spoons and dishes, the use of all of which, after 
the ten days in the interior, proved almost confusing 
at first. A feature of the hotel is the Japanese girl 
waitresses, tiny things who seem but overgrown dolls. 
These girls flit noiselessly about, always in a half- 
running pace, their slender bodies wrapped in bright, 
close-fitting, though not gaudy or rich kimonas. That 
they do not all speak or understand English perfectly 
does not prevent them from keeping the guests amply 
supplied with food, even though some of the things 
ordered may have been substituted by others not or- 
dered. If reminded of the latter fact, she pricks up 
her ears, smiles, flits away and brings what was or- 
dered, if perchance she did not again make a mistake. 
It was almost a pleasure to have them make some mis- 
take in order that we might have the above experi- 
ence over and again. 

The first half day in Kyoto was spent looking 
around locating the shops. In the evening we at- 
tended a Japanese theatre, where, located on one side 
of the balcony intended for foreigners, we had a good 
view of the stage as well as of the audience. The per- 
formance consisted of the final act of a play started 
in the afternoon and a short play on the order of 
\ 264 1 



DOING OVER. 

Pygmalian and Galatea. Though we did not under- 
stand the language, the facial expressions and actions 
impressed us as being good. The musical feature of 
the play was very odd, the musicians being changed 
to different parts of the stage and alternately from in- 
strumental to vocal. As compared with Chinese the- 
atricals, the performance in Kyoto was of a much 
higher order. Japanese plays are said to be invaria- 
bly old, historical or mythological. The audience upon 
the ground floor sit upon the floor in little squares, the 
separating partition being about six or eight inches 
high. These spaces (only about three feet square) 
are intended to hold four to six people, or a family. 
The Japanese bring their children (one woman nurs- 
ing an infant all unconcerned as to the surround- 
ings), besides pipes, ash tray, lunch or cake, while 
tea is sold them in the theatre. There were frequent 
outbursts of applause or laughter from the audience 
as the play progressed, the house being well-filled, and 
the performance lasting until half -past eleven. 

While Japanese buildings are unattractive exter- 
nally, their homes are pictures of simplicity and clean- 
liness. The shops and homes are usually combined, 
the latter and the family not being in evidence from 
the shop. Every home appears to have added to it 
an attractive garden, where are trees, plants, flowers, 
toros (shrines), bronze or other figures (the latter 
[265 1 



DOING OVER. 

generally cranes), and if possible, a small stream of 
water running through the place, over which are 
miniature bridges. Cranes and turtles are emblematic 
of long life to the Japanese mind, hence these two fig- 
ures are perhaps the most often seen. In addition to 
the absence of furniture, a Japanese home, regardless 
of the possible possession of a large collection of art 
pieces, has but little adornment, a kakimona (Japa- 
nese painting, on silk usually) or two and a bronze 
vase, usually make up all that appears in a room. 
These are changed from time to time for other pieces 
brought from the storeroom, where is kept what is not 
displayed in the rooms. There is entire absence of 
endeavor to show off what they possess. The vases, 
either hung on the wall or placed upon a raised posi- 
tion of some kind, usually have in them the flower of 
the month. The cherry blossoms, wistaria, azaleas, 
iris, following each other in the spring and early sum- 
mer months. The cherry blossoms and wistaria had 
come and gone prior to our visit, the azaleas, which 
seem to grow wild everywhere, besides being culti- 
vated, were also about over with, as was the iris, and 
though we saw a good many of the latter, they were 
no longer at their best. The lotus flowers were just 
about coming along when we left Japan. 

The flowers, though plentiful in season, are said to 
have no fragrance, and as the birds are said to never 
[ 266 ] 



DOING OVER. 

sing, the smiling women are offered in offset. The 
latter would look better, perhaps, without the cheer- 
ful smile, because the most of them have ugly pro- 
truding teeth, and are not good looking at the best. 

What would have no doubt amused our friends of 
the gentler sex could they have been eye-witnesses, 
was the shopping expeditions of our party after kimo- 
nas. Twenty-four kimonas and three days' bargain- 
ing, with thirty-five per cent, oft' the original price 
asked, was the record, and our minds relieved of what 
had become a great care. All through Japan, as else- 
where in the orient, bargaining is necessary, for 
tradesmen live mainly on overcharging the tourist. 

Our third evening in Kyoto was spent in a tea 
house, where, as per previous arrangement, appeared 
for our entertainment five dancing and four gei- 
sha girls. The dancing girls of from thirteen to 
fifteen years, in picturesque, bright-colored kimonas, 
looked as fairy-like as ever human appeared to me. 
Their so-called dancing was but graceful evolutions 
of the slender little bodies, swaying to and fro as they 
portrayed the particular character or characters of 
some poem. One of the dances, for instance, repre- 
sented two butterflies, flitting hither and thither as 
they were supposed to go from flower to flower, the 
girls the while spreading or closing their arms, from 
which hung the wide sleeves of the kimona. Thus by 
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drawing upon our imagination, butterflies were plainly 
seen flying from flower to flower. The artistically 
flgured kimonas very aptly portrayed that beau- 
tiful little creature, whose part the doll-like dancing 
girls were trying to imitate. The geishas the while 
supplied the so-called music, both those and the dan- 
cing girls occasionally emitting a soft but yet shrill- 
like sound, or chirping, intended to be singing. While 
novel and picturesque, the two hours' entertainment 
was quite enough for one evening. Preceding the 
above dancing, tea, sweet meats and sake had been 
served us, in which all the girls joined, the dancing 
girls, however, confining themselves to the tea and 
sweet meats only. None of the girls could speak 
English, hence our experience lacked the claimed 
charm of the geishas as entertainers. There was the 
usual absence of furniture in the tea house, hence all 
sat around on the mats, greatly to our discomfort. A 
flashlight photograph taken at the time, and looked 
at now, recalls most vividly my soreness as the result 
of that two hours ' awkward-sitting position. 

A curious custom in Japan is the refusal of tea 
house owners to accept cash payment for the evening's 
entertainment, for which, however, an itemized Japa- 
nese bill will be sent to the hotel the next day, by one 
of the ne san (house maids). The latter looks you up 
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in your room and expects, besides payment of the bill, 
the usual chadai (tea money) for herself. 

Of temples there are many in Kyoto, a few of them 
of exceptional attractiveness. One of these excep- 
tions was the Chinonin Buddhist Temple. This tem- 
ple, while having more or less the same general ex- 
terior architectural outlines, possesses a dignity of 
taste and richness in its interior decorations, to which 
I bowed in admiration. A figure of Buddha as the 
central attraction, with attractive overhanging lamps 
tastefully arranged, the whole enclosed by a wood 
railing, kept both the common herd of Japanese and 
the tourist at a respectable distance from the lacquered 
shrine and him whose figure adorned the place of 
honor. Immense columns of solid timber, said to have 
been brought from a distance, supported the roof, 
which, as in the case of other temples and Japanese 
buildings, appeared thick enough to be bomb proof. 
A Buddhist priest was at the time of our visit deliv- 
ering a sermon or lecture to a group of Japanese 
(again mainly women), who were squatted upon the 
matting outside the railing. A very few Japanese 
were inside the railing and those, our guide told us, 
had contributed more liberally to the temple that 
they might listen to the discourse and not be mixed 
in with the common herd outside the railing. 

Other Kyoto temples of note which we visited are 
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the Kiyomidsu, the Yasoka five-storied pagoda, and 
the Kwanon temple of one thousand and one statues 
of the goddess Kwanon. Kwanon is the goddess of 
mercy and that she may be the more generous, the 
one thousand and one statues (of wood) in the tem- 
ple dedicated to her name, all have six arms and 
hands. In mediaeval times a veranda on the back of 
the temple of Kwanon was used for the practice of 
archery. The archer, shooting at a mark the full 
length of the temple (about four hundred feet from 
end to end) , was required to aim high lest his arrow 
fall short of the mark, and because of the too high aim 
of many of the archers, the wooden cross-beams of 
the overhanging roof are still filled with arrow heads. 

There are many other temples in Kyoto, but not 
having visited Japan solely to see the one thousand 
and one temple buildings, I will not attempt any fur- 
ther description of others seen in Kyoto. Kyoto has 
a university of claimed high standing. To one of its 
professors I had a letter of introduction, but the pro- 
fessor happened to be out of the city, and, strange 
to say, it was with difficulty that I located some one 
at the university who could speak English. From my 
previous experience in Japan, I had come almost to 
believe that at least every other man could speak Eng- 
lish. 

June twenty-eighth, the fifth day in Kyoto, was 
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spent in a visit to, and return from, Lake Bewa. This 
lake, about ten miles from Kyoto, about three hundred 
and twenty-five feet above sea level, is thirty-six miles 
in length and twelve miles at its greatest width. Lake 
Bewa, Japanese legends claim, was formed during an 
earthquake about 286 B. C, at the same time Mount 
Fugiyama, over twelve thousand feet high, rose out 
of the plains. Fuji, as familiarly referred to in 
Japan, is the highest mountain in the country, and 
is revered by the natives as one of the wonders of the 
universe. A rikisha ride from Kyoto to Lake Bewa 
brought us through more picturesque scenery, with 
which was included villages all along the roadway. 
Rikisha riding had long since lost its novelty to us, 
but it is nevertheless a pleasant ride if for not too 
great a distance, and certainly gives an ideal view of 
the country traversed. Full of beautiful scenery as 
is Japan, it would seem needless to say that that 
around Lake Bewa does not suffer by comparison. 
One of the principal sights on the lake is the great 
pine tree of Karasaki, said to be three thousand years 
old, which spreads over a good deal of ground, a great 
many props being used to keep the branches from the 
ground. 

The Japanese are said to be very fond of poetry and 
constant reference is made in poetry and art to the 
' ' Eight Beauties of Omi, ' ' the idea of which, like much 
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other Japanese fiction, was derived from China, where 
there are, or were, eight beauties, at a place called 
Siao-Sing. The eight beauties of Omi are : The Au- 
tumn Moon seen from Ishiyama, the Evening Snow 
on Hirayama, the Sunset Glow at Seta, the Evening 
Bell of Miidera, the Boats Sailing Back from Yabase, 
a Bright Sky with a Breeze at Awasu, Eain at Night 
at Karasaki, and the Wild Geese Alighting at Kataka. 
Most of these places are pictured on Lake Bewa, the 
general beauty of which appeals to the Japanese. A 
curious mode of fishing in the lake is the arrow-shaped 
fish traps into which the fish are driven and from 
which they can not get out. Our return to Kyoto, 
after a short ride on a small steamer from the great 
pine tree, was through Lake Bewa Canal, about seven 
miles long, to Kyoto. The canal, said to have been 
built by a Japanese engineer who was educated in 
the United States, has three tunnels through the 
hills. With a current of from four to five miles an 
hour, it takes twenty minutes to go through the long- 
est one. The boats hold about one-half dozen pas- 
sengers, and during the passage carry a lighted torch, 
but for which the darkness in the long tunnel would 
be impenetrable. As it is, the darkness is so intense 
that the torches appear but a flickering light at a 
distance of a few feet. Traffic between the lake and 
Kyoto, on the canal, is carried on through these small 
[272 1 



^{^►i 



-X -4 lis*;'"* .•!■',> ii-'^it-.i 




DOING OVER. 

boats, which are forced along through the tunnels 
when going to the lake by means of a rope attached to 
one side of the tunnel and by means of which those in 
charge pull the boat through. The fall of the canal 
from the lake to a point just over Kyoto is about one 
hundred and fifty feet, and at which point a cradle 
wheel carries the boat down an incline to and back 
from Kyoto by means of an electric motor. A part 
of the canal at a point just off Kyoto runs north, sup- 
plying irrigation and water power. 

With the abundance of water in Japan, because of 
its area of mountains, there is little difficulty in sup- 
plying the miles of irrigation needed for the rice pad- 
dies and other agricultural purposes. 

It is claimed that from but one-eighth to one- 
eleventh of the land in Japan is arable, authorities 
differing to that extent on the subject. Certain it is 
that hills and mountains seem to be everywhere in 
the land. The Bewa Canal, opened to traffic about 
seventeen years ago, is said was originally intended 
for the purpose of hurriedly bringing troops into 
Kyoto before the time of railroads. While railways 
now extend pretty well over Japan, they are of com- 
paratively recent construction. The canal and the 
great pine tree were the interesting features of the 
visit to Lake Bewa aside from the beauties of the 
scenery. So much of the latter had already been seen 
18 r 273 1 



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in our visit that the surfeiting point was about 
reached. 

The Mikado's Kyoto palace is remarkable, mainly 
for the numerous buildings, all of them having, more 
or less, the same graceful roof lines. Some of the 
kakimonas and other wall paintings were very attract- 
ive and nearly all of them on the Chinese order, in 
fact, some of the rooms contained Chinese poets and 
philosophers exclusively. That there is, or at least 
was, close connection between the Chinese and Japa- 
nese became more apparent as we went from place to 
place. The foundation for the Japanese language is 
said to be Chinese. Everywhere in the Mikado's pal- 
ace could be seen, in wood carving or other decora- 
tions, His Majesty's crest of the sixteen petaled chry- 
santhemum. 

An interesting visit on our sixth day in Kyoto was 
to the training school for geisha and dancing girls. 
The latter could here be seen going through the grace- 
ful evolutions seen in the visit to the tea house. The 
geishas were being taught to play the musical instru- 
ments ; all the instructors in the school were women 
well advanced in years. The pupils were extremely 
attentive and, so far as observable, never raised their 
eyes from the instructor during our visits to the 
various rooms of the school. Many of the dancing 
girls are said to come from the best Japanese families, 
[274] 



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the hope being that because of their possible attract- 
iveness they may be selected as wife by some one of 
the wealthier Japanese, as is said very frequently to 
be the case. If a dancing girl does not marry by the 
time she becomes eighteen or nineteen she passes into 
the geisha class, from which she may still be selected 
in marriage by some one of the better class of Japa- 
nese. The geishas occupy the same position, rela- 
tively, in Japan, that actresses do in other parts of 
the world, and are said not necessarily immoral. 
Geishas are put in servitude to parties who make 
a business of supplying these girls for Japanese social 
functions, the duty of the geisha being to wait upon 
the guests and make themselves generally agreeable. 
The parents of the geisha receive a certain sum of 
money for the term, usually three years, during which 
period all she earns in the above functions or other- 
wise belongs to whom she is under contract. If, dur- 
ing the three-years' period, she does not earn as much 
as was paid her parents, she continues in service until 
she earns her release. Needless to say that if she does 
not earn well she will be less desirable thereafter. She 
gets no money for herself except what comes to her 
in chadai (tips or tea money). It is also said that 
not infrequently she squanders what she does get 
upon some lover, and so like some other girls the 
world over. The squandering of money, as in other 
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parts of the world, is not confined in Japan to the 
geishas, for the abbot of the Hangangi Temple, who 
was said to be brother to the empress, is in bad repute 
because he squanders upon the geishas all the yen he 
can obtain. 

The Hangangi Temple is said to be the largest in 
Japan, a beautiful building (for Japanese architec- 
ture), with rich and gorgeous decorations and carv- 
ings. It is claimed to have taken eighteen years to 
build the temple, some of its massive, solid-wood pil- 
lars being wonders in height and circumference. Be- 
cause of the abbot's weakness, above referred to, the 
temple is unpopular with the Japanese, hence lacks 
sufficient contributions to properly keep it up, a great 
pity because of the temple's elegance. 

On the seventh and last day of our visit in Kyoto 
we enjoyed the privilege of a visit to the country 
home (on the outskirts of the city) of a wealthy silk 
merchant. The home was in charge of a housekeeper, 
the family having not yet come out for the summer. 
Surrounded by what looked like homes of people of 
much lesser quality and with its exterior appearance 
so like most Japanese homes, this silk merchant's 
country home was the personification of cleanliness 
and simplicity. No furniture, but a few kahimonas 
and flower vases — the latter with the iris, was all the 
decorations visible. The garden was a picture of 
[276] 



DOING OVER. 

flowers, plants, a fev/ trees, and the usual small 
stream of water and several miniature bridges. 

Our visit to Kyoto in interest was an agreeable sur- 
prise to me, for, surfeited as I believed myself with 
sight-seeing before Japan had been reached, I feared 
the latter country, especially the cities, would prove 
tiresome. But what Japan and Kyoto lacked in archi- 
tectural beauty is amply made up for in Japanese cus- 
toms. 



[277] 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MIYANOSHITA, THE POPULAR SUMMER RESORT OF JAPAN. 

On July first, we left Kyoto for the sixteen mile 
railway ride to Nara, where the principal attraction 
is the Kasuga-No-Miga Temple, with its extensive 
grounds, its numerous toro (stone lanterns or shrines) 
and deer. The grounds form a large attractive park, 
with the usual Cryptomeria trees greatly in evidence 
in the forest. In one of the temple buildings is an 
immense Buddha in bronze, thus continuing the evi- 
dences of Buddhism in Nippon (Japan). 

Hot and sultry weather here made our visit of about 
two hours in Nara very discomforting. How I did 
envy some of the bare-legged, half-clad natives in 
their apparent comfort. 

In the afternoon we boarded train for the eighty 
mile run down to Nagoya, a city of three hundred 
thousand population. Upon arrival at a Japanese- 
European hotel, we were met at the doorway by the 
Tie san with the usual greeting, this time kon nichiwa 
(good afternoon), though it was already evening. 
There seems no word in the Japanese language for 
good evening, hence it is good afternoon until morn- 
ing. The Nagoya Hotel was Europeanized to a con- 
[278] 



DOING OVER. 

siderable extent, hence beds to sleep upon, dining 
roora tables and chairs. This city is of importance 
commercially, has an electric tramway, and is noted 
for its porcelain and cloisonne. The houses in the 
red light district are large and intended to be attract- 
ive, iriteriorally, in that the rooms are painted to 
represent historical and mythical scenes, and in addi- 
tion, curious wood 'figures representing hunting and 
war scenes are scattered about. A curious custom pre- 
vails here with regard to visits of strangers to these 
houses, in that it is necessary to go to some one of 
the numerous neighboring tea houses, who send with 
you two of the tea maids. The latter conduct the 
curious through the aforesaid house and collect from 
them tile pre-arranged fee when the visit is com- 
pleted. 

The principal feature of Nagoya is the castle of 
the Owari family, of Daimyos, built in 1610 by twenty 
great feudal lords for the son of leyasu as a residence. 
The castle is picturesquely located, being surrounded 
by three great walls eighteen feet thick, these walls 
being surrounded by as many moats. Its features for 
defense are so complete as against feudal warfare, 
that it is said to have never been besieged during all 
the warfare of that period. If perchance an enemy 
had penetrated the three walls and stormed the castle 
proper, which is built of heavy wood and timber, ar- 
[279 1 



DOING OVEE. 

rangements were made whereby, without exposing 
themselves to the arrows of the enemy, the defenders 
could pour boiling oil or other boiling substance down 
upon the besiegers below. The castle has, on two cor- 
ners of the roof, what are said to be gold dolphins 
eight and one-half feet long, with eyes of silver, and 
valued at about one hundred and seventy-five thou- 
sand dollars. One of these dolphins had been sent to 
the Vienna exhibition of 1873, and on its return to 
Japan the steamer carrying it was wrecked. Having 
been, with great difficulty, recovered from the bottom 
of the water where the steamer had been wrecked, the 
dolphin was finally restored to its lofty position upon 
the castle. The walls of the rooms in the castle are 
said to have contained priceless paintings by the most 
noted artists of the time (1610), but many of these 
paintings were wilfully destroyed by the military 
while stationed there early in the years of the present 
regime. With other property of the Shoguns, Daim- 
yos and feudal lords, the Nagoya castle was confiscated 
by the government at the overthrow of the Shogunate 
by the present regime. 

The Hongwangi Temple in Nagoya is large and of 
attractive Japanese architecture with many wood 
carvings all over it. All Japanese buildings, of what- 
ever character, are of wood, hence little wonder that 
fires sometimes sweep whole or almost entire cities. 
[280 1 



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While Japanese temples suffer greatly by comparison 
with some of the mosques in India, many of the 
former are yet very pleasing, even attractive, because 
of the simple beauty and yet gorgeous interior decora- 
tions. 

After being bowed out of the Nagoya Hotel with 
the usual arigato (thanks), and sayonara (good-bye), 
oft-times repeated, we started for the railway station 
for the one hundred and fifteen mile trip to Shizuoka, 
where we spent the night. The principal sight here 
was the temple where the Shogun leyasu spent his 
last days, and where a number of trophies of his are 
still on exhibition. From Shizuoka, a ride of fifty- 
seven miles by rail brought us to Hodzu, much of the 
trip being close to, and gave us our first view of, the 
Pacific Ocean from Japan. Our objective points now 
were Yumoto, Miyanoshita, and Lake Hakone, all 
close together. From Hodsu to Yumoto, a few miles 
by tram car, brought us to Yumoto, where, in a Japa- 
nese-European hotel, we registered for the night. 

Yumoto, a small village, is beautifully located be- 
tween the mountains, with a rushing stream (Miya- 
gino River) immediately back of the hotel. There is 
a fascination to these mountain streams, that to me at 
times was awe-inspiring. The beautiful clear water, 
dashing against the rocks, in the onward rush to the 
sea, and the never-ceasing roar, loud or faint, depend- 
[ 281 ] 



DOINd OVER. 

ing upon the size of the stream and the fall, was 
music to my ears. Another small stream in the neigh- 
borhood with a fall of fifty to sixty feet from the hill- 
side produces an effect that the Japanese call tamdare 
(bead curtain) , because of its supposed resemblance to 
such a curtain. The hot baths in the hotel h^ere are 
supplied by hot springs, the water being piped across 
the aforesaid mountain stream from the opposite side 
of the mountain. The latter rises up almost perpen- 
dicularly for many hundred feet, and is covered with 
a virgin forest, fresh and green to the top. The whole 
neighborhood is a landscape picture of wondrous 
beauty. The atmosphere, too, was delightful. Though 
a small place, Yumoto is on the road to Miyanoshita 
(three miles), the famous Japanese summer resort, 
and Lake Hakone, six miles further, hence the little 
hotel here, and used by many tourists, was very com- 
fortable and the service fair. 

By this time my conclusions were that the Japanese 
women were the least modest of any we had seen on 
our tour. This refers, of course, to the women as seen 
in public, and where it was not an uncommon sight to 
see them nursing children or otherwise exposing their 
breasts. The latter exposure was due, apparently, 
partly to indifference and to their loose kimonas. 

July fourth was celebrated in a horseback ride to 
Miyanoshita and Lake Hakone (eighteen miles there 
[ 282 ] 



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and back), with tiffin at the latter place, where, on 
the lake, is a small inn. The day was a gloomy one, 
rain threatening throughout; the scenery, however, 
was none the less interesting as we rode up the moun- 
tain road. Miyanoshita is fourteen hundred feet and 
Lake Hakone twenty-eight hundred feet above the 
sea. The lake appeared to be about two miles long. 

As Fujisan (Fujiyama Mountain) is not far from 
Lake Hakone^ the reflection of the mountain on bright 
sunny days is said to show plainly in the lake. We 
saw neither the sun, the reflection of Fuji, nor Fuji 
itself, on our visit. On the return ride to Yumoto 
we fell in with a Japanese army officer, whom we had 
seen on the train from Shanhaikwan, in China, to 
Pekin. He proved an agreeable fellow and was stop- 
ping at a Japanese inn in Yumoto close to our hotel, 
the Tonosawa. Before we left the place on the fol- 
lowing day, we were each handed a picture post card 
with the above officer's compliments, who expressed 
pleasure at having met us. He was at the time con- 
nected with the Japanese legation in Pekin. 

Japan has some queer modes of getting to places, 
and one of these was met with in our move from 
Yumoto. First, the same shore ride by tram car back 
to the town of Odawara, thence by what is called 
rikisha tram cars seventeen miles to Atami. The only 
rikisha feature, if any, about the latter ride is the 
[283] 



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fact that coolies are in charge and push the cars up 
hill, while on the down grade they jump on and ride. 
The cars are but little more than boxes on wheels with 
top cover, seats and doors to get in and out and in- 
tended to accommodate six passengers. On the down 
grade one of the coolies is on the front platform in 
charge of the brake. The ride was along the coast 
(Pacific), the road ofttimes running along the very 
edge of the hills, that along the seventeen mile trip 
are close to the track. Because of the hills and the 
ocean, the course is referred to as the Riviera of 
Japan. 

The trip, a picturesque one, took about three hours, 
at the end of which we were in Atami and soon there- 
after in the half-Europeanized hotel of the town. The 
feature of this visit was the novelty of the rikisha 
ride, though Atami is quite a health resort, especially 
in the winter season, because of the natural hot baths 
here and their claimed curative properties, especially 
of rheumatism. A single geyser here spouts out quite 
a volume of steam and hot water every four hours 
the entire year. Another attraction to which the 
townspeople refer is a great camphor tree. A nov- 
elty here experienced was a massage given by blind 
men. The blind of Japan apparently drift into the 
massage business, a very practical pursuit as it would 
seem. I will not dwell longer on the visit to Atami, 
[284] 



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aside from the fact that it has a picturesque situation 
on the coast, hence, also, has a good many fishermen. 
Small fish in large quantities were seen everywhere 
throughout the town, spread out to dry. To get away 
from Atami but one of two means were left us — the 
tram rikisha or walk, and preferring the former, 
three hours again brought us to Odawara, by electric 
car to Hodsu, and rail thirty-one miles north to Yoko- 
hama. We were told that no railway or electric line 
to Atami had been heretofore built because it would 
deprive the rikisha tram coolies of their means of 
support and because of the latter contingency fear 
of trouble from the coolies. 

The Japanese are great advertisers, the country 
along the railway lines and outdoor spaces in cities 
being decorated with catchy, or at least conspicuous, 
signs of various kinds. Nowhere, outside the United 
States, have I seen such close imitation of American 
methods of advertising. Not having been on the con- 
tinent of Europe for ten years, except Naples to 
Brindisi on this tour, I am unable to properly include 
Europe in the above comparison. 

Japanese thrift and loyalty seemed apparent as 
we progressed through the country, and Banzai Nip- 
pon (long live Japan) was frequently heard. While 
the earning capacity of a large part of the population 
is very low as compared with the United States, the 
[285] 



DOING OVEE. 

simplicity, I might say almost absence of need for 
clothing and the equally simple food product of the 
Japanese as a nation^ coupled with an entire absence 
of costly home furnishings, would seem to make possi- 
ble a saving on the part of these simple people com- 
paratively equal, if not above, the higher earnings, 
but much greater cost of all living of the American. 
The Japanese seem to be hard workers, at least those 
who do work, and they no doubt are numerous, appar- 
ently do not have an easy life of it, though not to be 
compared with the hard workers of China. The 
Japanese are clearly more adaptable, for instead of 
carrying everything upon their shoulders, as do the 
Chinese, the former supply wheels of some kind 
to carry the burden of weight, while he pulls or 
pushes it. 

With the above observations oft-recurring in Japan 
and again during the ride from Atami, we finally ar- 
rived in Yokohama on the afternoon of July sixth, 
almost as nearly strapped of funds as a black boss is 
of yellow ribbons, hence as speedy a visit as possible, 
after registering at the Grand Hotel, for the bank, to 
again tap our letters of credit. A person traveling 
probably never whistles so happy a tune as when his 
depleted purse has been replenished. 



286 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CAPITAI, (TOKYO) AND THE FAMOUS TEMPLE TOWN 
OP NHCKO. 

With Tokyo and Nikko before us before sailing day, 
eleven days hence, no time was lost in looking over 
Yokohama, and on the day following our arrival, 
aboard train we started for the twenty-one mile run to 
Tokyo. The fast mail between the two cities, with no 
stop between them, makes the run in one-half hour. 
The railway to Tokyo is along Tokyo Bay a good por- 
tion of the way, hence with Japanese scenery on the 
other side it makes a very pleasant trip. 

Japan's capital, Tokyo, had been looked forward 
to in this visit through the country with a good deal 
of anticipation, because of its supposed attractive- 
ness, and to me because it was so near our sailing 
time for home. I was by this time surely surfeited 
with sight-seeing, especially as I believed that in the 
main what would be seen after our visit to date 
would be much in the nature of repetition. 

Tokyo, the largest city in Japan, has one million 

eight hundred thousand population and is scattered 

over much territory. The weather was depressingly 

dreary and sultry. The Tokyo Hotel, which was rec- 

[287 1 



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ommended to us, is situated upon a hill overlooking 
the city, a tiresome climb being necessary, because the 
hill was too steep for the rikisha coolies to carry us. 
The hotel, aside from commodiously large rooms, was 
too much like a large boarding house. A new large 
hotel, it was said, is projected on the spot, which, if 
the climb of the hill is overcome, should make it an 
ideal place for those who do not wish to be down in 
the city proper. One of our visits here was to a cel- 
ebrated tea garden, which was at the time being 
placed in gala attire for a reception to a British admi- 
ral. Geishas and dancing girls were at the time re- 
hearsing for the coming occasion. Bands of music 
with foreign instruments, heard from time to time 
in Japan, and which played largely American catchy 
airs, such as, for instance, Marching Through Georgia, 
Dixie, The Suwanee Biver, and others, were again 
heard in Tokyo. Referred to as the Yankees of the 
East, the Japanese evidently carry out the idea in 
their playing of Yankee airs, as they certainly also 
do in progressiveness in business. In some of the 
latter it would seem they might equal the western 
Yankees, if not set a new high record pace in business 
enterprise. The Japanese are great imitators, hence 
can imitate anything made elsewhere, even though 
of themselves limited in originality. That they are 
artistic in a high degree is apparent in their carvings 
[ 288 ] 



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of wood and ivory, and in bronze and silk work, than 
which there is probably nothing so artistic and thor- 
ough anywhere else in the world. The tiniest article 
of ivory or wood carving seems to lack not the mi- 
nutest detail to make it complete. 

An interesting visit in Tokyo was to the bazaar, 
where throngs of the natives were going to and fro, 
and where there were on sale innumerable small and 
cheap nicknacks. This bazaar street leads up to the 
Asakusa Temple, where crowds were going in and 
coming out, some apparently in devotion, others in 
seeming amusement. A wood figure of one of the 
deities here had its nose and other parts of its anat- 
omy worn smooth, or almost off, by those devotees, 
whoj in their prayers for relief from some ailment, 
would appeal to the deity, at the same time rub that 
part of the god where the devotee's own particular 
affliction was centered. 

In one of the parks in Tokyo are two trees planted, 
one each by General and Mrs. Grant on their visit 
around the world. By the Japanese, Admiral Porter 
and General Grant are said to be held in the high- 
est esteem of any foreigners, because Porter opened 
Japan to foreign commerce and because of admira- 
tion for Grant's military prowess. The Japanese are 
a fighting race, hence their admiration for a hero. 
19 [ 289 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

In one of the cities of Japan, at a training school 
for fencing and jiu jitsu, we saw young boys and 
girls take part in the former, while men and boys 
took part in the jiu jitsu (wrestling). In Yoko- 
hama, on our return, we also saw the regular 
wrestlers, the latter taking odd positions, their 
partly-closed hands upon the ground, like two 
animals facing one another, then suddenly ris- 
ing, each would throw himself forward at the 
other, their bodies coming together with great 
force, and at the same time the wrestlers would clinch 
for the throw. These wrestlers are muscular fellows 
and superstitious, for each, before getting ready for 
the bout, would pick up a pinch of salt which lies 
handy upon the ground inside the ring, the belief 
being that the pinch of salt portends good luck in 
the effort to down his antagonist. 

The Mikado's palace in Tokyo, inside a great wall 
surrounded by a moat, can only be thought of in the 
abstract and not seen, entry to the grounds being 
guarded by soldiers and menacing-looking cannon. 
We did not have the pleasure to see His Majesty 
take his drive through the city. 

Tokyo is building an elevated railroad and very 
substantially of brick construction. Some of its pub- 
lic buildings are of modern foreign design and look 
out of place with the Japanese architecture thickly 
[290] 



DOING OVER. 

scattered all around. Needless to say that Tokyo, 
apparently, has its proportion of temples, and a good 
deal less needful, perhaps, to say that we did not 
hunt up all of them. 

During our visit in Tokyo, a British admiral also 
visited there, and at the time of his arrival by train 
a crowd of a few hundred Japanese gathered around 
the railway station streets. As the carriages con- 
taining the admiral and his suite passed through 
the streets, there was some cheering^ and an occa- 
sional Banzai Nippon (long live Japan). The cheer- 
ing did not, however, appear to have very much en- 
thusiasm. We had gone to the station expectant that 
Admiral Togo (whose guest the British admiral was 
to be) would be seen, but our curiosity in that direc- 
tion was not gratified, since Togo had not come down 
to the station. 

The yoshi-wara (red-light district) in Tokyo is a 
revelation in its regulation and the number (said to 
be seven thousand) of licensed inmates. Street after 
street of buildings (three stories usually) brightly 
lighted, with the inmates sitting upon the floor in 
rows in what might be called large cages with bars, 
facing the streets. Some of the inmates were still 
putting the finishing touches of powder or paint upon 
their faces, others quietly smoking the very small 
Japanese pipes, others apparently in abstracted 
[291] 



DOING OVER. 

thought, while some are quick to engage the passerby 
in conversation if half an opportunity is given them. 
Along the streets the public, including men, women, 
boys and girls, parade, looking at the unfortunates 
behind the bars. We saw two Japanese girls of evi- 
dent genteel and refined make-up calmly passing 
along the street as intently viewing the yoshi-wara 
girls as though there was nothing unusual or unlikely 
in it. The geisha district, like that of the yoshi-wara, 
is also a place set aside exclusively for them. In 
their charges for entertainment at tea parties and 
dinners, the geishas, like actresses, command prices 
according to their popularity and fitness to entertain 
the guests. 

Our visit to Tokyo, though including some features 
of Japanese life not heretofore met with, came to an 
end after three days, when on the morning of July 
tenth we boarded train for the ninety miles ' run north 
to Nikko. 

Nikko is the temple show town of Japan. The rail- 
way in places parallels the famous Cryptomeria ave- 
nue, said to be about thirty miles in length. Our 
hotel in Nikko was very comfortable and attractively 
located. The town of but one street is strung along 
about two miles. In its course the street crosses the 
bridge of the beautiful Daiya-Gawa River as it winds, 
seaward, down through the mountain. It is here the 
[292 1 



DOING OVEE. 

famous lacquer bridge, destroyed a few years since 
by river freshets but being now rebuilt, is located. 
A curious legend is connected with the original bridge 
which was built commemoratively. Shodo Shonin, 
a Buddhist priest, about 767 A. D., while chasing 
a rainbow or a dream, came to the river which barred 
his passage and threatened his destruction. While 
at prayer a supernatural being of colossal size ap- 
peared and promised aid. Acting upon a sugges- 
tion, the saint (Shodo Shonin) at once threw two 
snakes across the stream and upon these there ap- 
appeared a fairy-like bridge structure across which 
Shodo Shonin walked in simple faith, the snakes and 
bridge disappearing immediately thereafter. The 
lacquer bridge in consequence is held very sacred to 
his memory by the Japanese, 

Nikko is two thousand feet above the sea level, 
with high hills in every direction. Its situation and 
surrounding beauty seem incomparable. The street 
for several blocks from the hotel is lined on both 
sides with bazaars to tempt the tourist, especially 
those after cheap curios, though several bazaars have 
very attractive and costly stocks of carved ivory, 
wood, bronzes and silks. The tourist has difficulty 
passing the bazaars without being importuned to come 
in and examine stocks. He is urged to come in, he 
need not buy, just come in and look around, but 
' r 293 1 



DOING OVER. 

once in he is as strongly urged to buy this, that, or 
the other article shown. 

The location of the temples upon the side of a 
hill well up over the town and reached by stone 
steps after a long climb, is through a forest of stately 
Cryptomeria trees. Some of these noble denizens of 
the forest are of incomparable grandeur. All vege- 
tation, here as elsewhere in Japan during our visit, 
appeared at its best. The stone steps, leading up to 
the temples, are moss-covered, affording a view well 
worth the climb. Many people rave in enthusiasm 
over Nikko and the temples, and though already over- 
charged with surfeit of seeing things beautiful, I 
could still absorb pleasure and admiration from the 
surroundings. A Japanese popular proverb says : 
''Do not use the word magnificent till you have seen 
Nikko." I do not know but they are nearly correct 
as applying the term to nature's scenery. The tem- 
ples, situated in the midst of all the beauty, them- 
selves add to it. There are Shinto and Buddhist tem- 
ples, the former dating back to the earliest centuries, 
while the Buddhist shrines began with the coming 
of Buddhist missionaries about one thousand two hun- 
dred years since. These temples have much the gen- 
eral design of architecture prevalent throughout 
Japan, added to which are many grotesque wood carv- 
ings. The interior is rich in gold and lacquer deco- 
r 294 1 " 



DOING OVER. 

rations, and in one of them some exquisite wood carv- 
ings. To attempt a detailed description would require 
too much space and greater ability than mine. Situ- 
ated in the group are the temples and mausoleum of 
leyasu and his grandson lemitsu. leyasu was the 
first of the Shoguns and founder of the Tokugawa 
family of Shoguns. A five-storied pagoda of graceful 
form is also included in the temple grounds. An im- 
mense granite torii, twenty-seven feet high, is one of 
the striking features which meet the eyes as one enters 
the temple collection. Of the numerous wood figures 
which adorn the temples is one, a mythological ani- 
mal called baku, said to have been brought from 
China and which Chinese classical books are said to 
describe as resembling a wolf with the trunk of an 
elephant, eyes of a rhinoceros, the tail of a bull and 
the legs of a tiger. It is credited with the power to 
avert evil and is therefore sometimes depicted in gold 
or lacquer upon the pillows used by the nobility, be- 
cause of its credited power to devour any bad dreams 
that may pass before their sleeping eyes. 

More or less constant heavy rains interfered with 
our visits to nearby attractions, such as Lake Chu- 
zenji, and several waterfalls, and was besides the 
means of driving us out of Nikko at the end of three 
days (when a drenching rain was in progress) for 
the return to Yokohama via Tokyo. Thus on July 
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DOING OVER. 

thirteenth, we were again in Yokohama. The latter 
has a population of about three hundred thousand, 
with a large foreign contingent, of whom two thou- 
sand are said to be Americans. In appearance, Yoko- 
hama is the most foreign of any city in Japan, be- 
cause of the great number of buildings of foreign 
architecture. Indeed, in and close around the Grand 
Hotel one might be lead to forget they were in Japan 
so far as the buildings are concerned. The city is 
both the port of entry and departure for most for- 
eigners who come to Japan. The Grand Hotel is 
decidedly foreign, in fact, is managed by an Amer- 
ican, and at the time of our visit was so full of our 
countrymen that one might have thought himself 
in America. While the waiters and clerks were Japa- 
nese, the comprador e (cashier) was a Chinaman. Be- 
cause of his honesty, many of the trusted positions 
in Japanese counting houses are in charge of Chi- 
nese, who look after the cash. The Grand Hotel is 
located on the water front from which the numerous 
watercraft in Yokohama Bay are constantly in sight. 
The Japanese government, it is said, owns the most 
of the large Japanese enterprises in the country and 
is bent on owning everything worth it and making 
monopolies of them. Yokohama has little to attract 
the foreigner, once he has made such a round of the 
country as we had. The city is nicely located with 
[296 1 



DOING OVEE. 

some of the attractive homes on a nearby hill. Lo- 
cated on Tokyo Bay, it is about twenty-five miles 
from the ocean. » 

A good part of one day was taken up in a visit 
to Enoshima and Kamakura. At the former place is a 
rock cave, into a part of which the ocean breakers 
are sent at high tide. A Japanese legend says that 
before the existence of Enoshima, the site of the pres- 
ent cave was the abode of a dragon which used to 
devour children of the neighborhood ; that in the sixth 
century, during a violent earthquake, the goddess 
Benten appeared in the clouds over the spot inhabited 
by the dragon ; that the island of Enoshima suddenly 
arose from the waters and the goddess descended to 
it, married the dragon and put an end to his ravages 
of children. Japanese mythology is chock full of 
legends. 

Kamakura, four miles away from Enoshima, was 
once a populous city of one million people, which 
was swept away by fire and sword and is now only 
a seaside village, though a favorite resort for Yoko- 
hama residents. The chief sights in Kamakura are 
the Daihutsu, or colossal bronze figure of Buddha, 
great image of the goddess Kwanon and temple of 
Hachiman. The Daihutsu is a wonderful piece of 
work because of its size, and the peaceful expression 
on the face of the saint. Its height is over forty-nine 
[ 297 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

feet, with a circumference of over ninety-seven feet, 
length of face eight feet, width from ear to ear over 
seventeen feet, length of eye one foot three inches, 
of ear six feet six inches, and of nose three feet nine 
inches. The eyes are said to be of pure gold. The 
image is formed of sheets of bronze cast separately, 
brazed together. Originally enclosed in a building 
which was several times destroyed, the Daihutsu is 
now exposed to the elements, though it shows no signs 
of discomfort on that or any other account. The 
temple of Kwanon near by contains the great image 
of the goddess of Mercy behind folding doors, which 
a small fee to the attendant priest suffices to open. 
The figure, said to be of one piece of wood, is over 
thirty feet in height and is covered with lacquer 
gilded over. Whether the goddess is a thing of 
beauty it was impossible to see because her face is so 
high and because of the faint light produced by can- 
dles, by the aid of which the figure must be seen. In 
one of the temple grounds is a good-sized rock which 
has upon it a more or less imaginary resemblance to 
one of the female organs, hence is referred to by the 
Japanese as a female rock. That the latter may not 
be lonesome, another rock of about the same size was 
placed along side, and which is supposed to belong 
to the male persuasion. In another temple is the cel- 
ebrated image of Emma-0, Regent or King of Hell. 
r 298 1 



DOING OVER. 

A legend says of this image that a celebrated wood 
carver, named Unkei, having died, appeared in due 
course before the above regent who thus accosted 
him : Thou hast carved many images of me, but never 
a true one. Now that thou hast seen my face return 
to earth and show me as I am. So Unkei, coming to 
life again, carved this image and which is therefore 
referred to as the work of Unkei, redivivus (come 
into existence again). Innumerable grotesque images 
make up the collection contained in the temples of 
Kamakura. We found our way back to Yokohama 
on the same evening without having lost ourselves 
in such deified surroundings. 

With the visit to Kamakura we had finished sight- 
seeing in Japan, and as it was now July sixteenth, 
hence the very eve of departure for home, many re- 
flections of the visit in the orient crowded them- 
selves before my vision. I found myself making com- 
parisons with the interesting features of the tour as 
between India, China and Japan, the former of 
which had, up to the moment, occupied the leading 
position as the country of most intense interest. In a 
manner I hold to the latter conclusions as to the in- 
tensity of interest, but the Japanese characteristics 
seem to have forged ahead as having supplied the 
greatest number of amusing, as well as pleasing, inci- 
dents, while the interest in India was in its wonder- 
r 299 1 



DOING OVER. 

ful architecture, its conglomerate population of sev- 
enty or more different races, its historical features, 
its Hindu fanatical life, and many other things. 
China thus comes third in interest, from my point of 
view, with, however, the fact before me that in neither 
China nor India did we see nearly so much of the 
manner of living and closer characteristics of the peo- 
ple as in Japan. Could these latter privileges have 
applied, in India, especially, much more could have 
been added in these notes on that country. As com- 
pared with a serious population in India, where 
famine and plague and poverty always hover close to 
hand, the Japanese seem thrifty, and they also ap- 
peared happy rather than serious. At that, very 
much more might undoubtedly be said of Japan by 
one making both a study of the subject and longer 
visit, instead of a five-weeks' stay and notes made 
from casual observation, the guide book and hearsay. 
The keenness of the Japanese after knowledge, for 
one thing, brings them into closer touch with foreign- 
ers than do any of the orientals met with in this tour, 
hence, also, the foreigner gets nearer to the Japanese 
life and characteristics. Their keenness in the above 
is observable in the boys and girls who scrutinize ev- 
erything new that comes under their observation, the 
boys particularly being bold rather than timid about 
it. How like boys the world over. The claim that 
[300] 



DOING OVEE. 

human nature the world over is more or less the same 
must have suggested itself from observation of chil- 
dren. These latter, whether in India, Burma, China, 
the Philippines, Japan, or elsewhere in the orient, 
while at play have their childish quarrels, an elder 
child girl is seen guarding a younger child brother, or 
vice versa, and all as human as if bom in our coun- 
try or other lands. That they should grow to man- 
hood or womanhood much as humans of other parts 
of the world resolves itself into a simple conclusion. 
From the oriental point of view the standard of hu- 
manity as well as of religion begins at home. So then, 
there you are, and who has the deciding vote? With 
the end of our visit in Japan also disappear the bow- 
ing ne san (house maids), and no longer do we hear 
the pleasing sound of ohayo (good morning), hon 
nichiwa (good afternoon), arigato (thank you), or 
okini arigato (thank you very much). 



301 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE FIFTY-FOUR HUNDRED MILE VOYAGE, YOKOHAMA TO 
SAN FRANCISCO. 

July seventeenth and sailing day for home. Home, 
how good the word did sound after six and one-half 
months' absence, interest, pleasure, discomfort and 
hardships. The last visit to a bank in the orient had 
been made in Yokohama for the purpose of converting 
our remaining Japanese yen into Uncle Sam's money 
and to replenish our purses by a final draft upon our 
letters of credit. Why replenish purses at this time? 
Because of the prospect that Uncle Sam's customs 
officers at Frisco would demand some money as duty 
on our curio bargains ( ?) which we had picked up 
on the tour. Strange to say the foreign and Japa- 
nese banks had but little of United States money on 
hand, to get which we were required to go to private 
Chinese money brokers. 

While Japan is said to constantly have earthquakes, 
and if reports be true must have had them right along 
during our visit, none of them were of sufficient force 
to have been observable to our party. 

We went aboard the Manchuria at half-past two 
in the afternoon, for the long pull of seventeen days 
r 302 1 



DOING OVEE. 

to San Francisco. The day was the most beautiful 
experienced since the day we came through Shimono- 
seki Strait for the visit to Japan. As we steamed 
away from the harbor of Yokohama, Fuji Mountain, 
with its cap of snow, could be plainly seen forty- 
seven miles away. For several hours, too, the hills on 
both sides of the course down the bay could be seen, 
then on one side only, and finally land had disap- 
peared entirely, and we now faced the prospect of 
nothing but sky and water, with the possible excep- 
tion of an occasional vessel or small island, until 
Honolulu (three thousand three hundred and ninety- 
nine miles) is reached, ten days hence. 

Beginning with my departure from Chicago to 
New York, thence to Naples, we had been steadily fol- 
lowing the rising sun, except for sundry side trips — 
and when from time to time the steamer's course tem- 
porarily lay north or south. 

The Manchuria, as sister ship to the Mongolia 
(which had brought us from Shanghai to Kobe) , was 
of the same size and build. Our passenger list now 
consisted of one hundred and eighteen first-cabin 
and eight hundred steerage, the latter almost entirely 
Japanese coolies bound for the Hawaiian Islands. 
With home as the objective point, time for the first 
time aboard ship dragged slowly, intensified by a 
quiet passenger contingent. The latter, made up 
[303 1 



DOING OVER. 

largely of Americans returning home, and appar- 
ently tired out by sight-seeing, or for whatever rea- 
son, seemed little disposed to liven up. Each day 
brought us about three hundred and fifty miles nearer 
Frisco. Our party had in this round-the-world tour 
visited, or gone ashore for short periods, fifteen dif- 
ferent countries — Spain at Gibraltar (English pos- 
session), Italy, Egypt (at Port Said), India, Burma, 
Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula at Penang, Singa- 
pore, Jahore, one-half day, Java, the Philippines, 
China, Manchuria (at Shanhaikwan, where the Great 
Wall separates China from Manchuria), Japan, and 
the Hawaiian Islands at Honolulu. The longest 
time in any one country was India, where forty- 
five days were spent, twenty-nine cities visited and 
five thousand six hundred miles traveled by rail, 
besides several hundred miles in native vehicles to 
out of way places. Thirty-seven days had been spent 
in Japan and thirty cities visited, about one thou- 
sand miles traveled by rail, one hundred and 
fifty miles in rikishas, in out of way places, and about 
three hundred and fifty miles by water and twenty- 
five miles on horseback. Twenty-five days spent in 
China, ten cities visited, one thousand miles traveled 
by rail and about one thousand by water. Traveled 
eight hundred miles in Burma, visited two cities, re- 
mained five days. Ten days in Ceylon, visited three 
[304] 



DOING OVER. 

cities. Five days in Java and four cities visited. Five 
days in the Philippines, at Manila and surrounding 
towns. In all, we visited about one hundred towns and 
cities. Including the Manchuria, we had been upon 
twenty-seven different ships, large and small (not 
counting return trips on three or four of them) . We 
had, besides, voyaged on twenty-three different bodies 
of water, large and small, including the Yangtze- 
Kiang and Pearl Rivers in China, and Pasig River 
in the Philippines. The principal bodies of water 
from start to finish were : The Atlantic Ocean, three 
thousand two hundred miles (New York to Gibral- 
tar) ; the Mediterranean, one thousand miles (Gib- 
raltar to Naples) and nine hundred and thirty-six 
miles from Brindisi to Port Said; Suez Canal, one 
hundred miles ; Gulf of Suez and Red Sea, one thou- 
sand three hundred miles ; Arabian Sea, one thousand 
six hundred and forty miles (Aden to Bombay) ; Gulf 
of Cambay, one hundred and fifteen miles; Bay of 
Bengal, one thousand six hundred and seventy miles 
(Calcutta to Rangoon and back to Madras) ; Gulf of 
Manar, one hundred and fifty miles (Tuticorin to 
Colombo) ; Indian Ocean and Malacca Strait, one 
thousand six hundred and seventy miles (Colombo 
to Singapore) ; Java Sea, one thousand and sixty-five 
miles (Singapore to Java and back) ; China Sea, one 
thousand four hundred and forty miles (Singapore 
20 [ 305 ] 



DOING OVEE. 

to Hongkong) and Hongkong to Manila and return, 
one thousand two hundred and eighty miles ; Eastern 
Sea, eight hundred and sixty miles (Hongkong to 
Shanghai) ; Yellow Sea and Gulf of Pechili, six 
hundred and forty miles (Shanghai to Chinwangt,ao, 
China) ; Yangtze-Kiang, six hundred miles (Hankau 
to Nanking and back to Shanghai) ; Yellow Sea and 
Inland Sea of Japan, seven hundred and forty miles 
(Shanghai to Kobe) ; Japan Sea, one hundred and 
thirty miles (Sakai to Maizuru) ; and Pacific Ocean, 
three thousand three hundred miles (Yokohama to 
Honolulu), thence to Frisco, two thousand one hun- 
dred miles. All told, we had, from start to finish, cov- 
ered twenty-four thousand two hundred and twenty 
knots, or about twenty-seven thousand land miles, by 
water, besides about thirteen thousand miles by land, 
beginning with my departure from Chicago and re- 
turn thereto, or a grand total of about forty thou- 
sand miles. The trip had taken just seven months, 
during which time we had been aboard ship, off 
and on, ninety-five days and five hours. The long- 
est runs without stop were from New York to Gibral- 
tar and Yokohama to Honolulu, each of about ten 
days. To comprehend what all the above figures 
mean, or to properly appreciate what may be seen in 
such a tour, one must go, see, and experience for him- 
self. Vivid as may be my own picture of what was 
[ 306] 



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seen and experienced, the efforts in these notes at de- 
scription are at best but meagre after all. With 
Honolulu and Frisco still to see, I had somewhat 
anticipated the finish in the above, but as time on 
the Manchuria passed slowly, it was in the nature of 
pastime at the time to have computed the figures of 
mileage, hence reference thereto at this time. As to 
the apparent dullness of the Manchuria's passengers, 
it was pretty generally agreed that but for the pres- 
ence of a certain high officer of the United States 
army, and his family, the surrounding atmosphere 
would have been much less frigid. These frigid ones 
appeared, from their bearing, to believe they exhaled 
with every breath a purer exhausted oxygen than 
does the merely American citizen. Pity 'tis that the 
glory of our country must have as barnacles a coterie 
who practice a studied snobbishness rather than a 
becoming dignity. A personal grievance on this voy- 
age and uninvited would justify a harsher criticism 
of the aforesaid, but the army will be the army. But 
to get back to the voyage on the Manchuria, the 
weather between Yokohama and Honolulu, as a whole, 
was pleasant, and as we were aboard a large ship 
the entire absence of pacific conditions of the water 
brought few, if any, of the passengers great discom- 
fort. 

As I look back over the days spent aboard ship on 
[307] 



DOING OVER. 

this tour, it occurs to me that life was alternately a 
pleasure and admixture of dullness. The latter the 
exception because I had learned to rather enjoy being 
aboard ship regardless of the passengers. A poor 
mixer myself, conditions may have seemed dull to me 
at times while others were happy. That the Pacific 
Ocean is a vast body of water needs not measurement 
merely as proof, but when for days, consecutively, not 
a craft of any kind is seen in a continuous run, the 
fact forces itself upon the voyager that vastness 
rather than pacific had been a better name for this 
body of water. 

We had been out from Yokohama six days when 
the imaginary one hundred and eighty degrees' line 
of latitude was crossed, with Greenwich, England, 
as the zero point of the circle, the latter, as in all 
circles, having three hundred and sixty degrees. Ac- 
cording to the ship's time, it was fifty-eight minutes 
past twelve on the afternoon of July twenty-third, 
when the one hundred and eightieth degree was 
crossed, hence, according to the arbitrary rule laid 
down by the congress of nations assembled in 1888, 
a day was dropped, and we continued for twenty-four 
hours more to regard the time as Monday, July 
twenty-third. The days aboard ship on the Pacific 
begin at noon instead of at midnight, hence on ship- 
board one experiences part of two days by daylight 
[308 1 



DOING OVER. 

instead of sleeping out of one into the other. In ^ our 
circle of the globe, because following the rising sun, 
hence need for setting time ahead as we proceeded 
eastward and but for the arbitrary rule above referred 
to, we would, upon our arrival at San Francisco, 
have been one day ahead of time prevailing in the 
United States. Because of the above anomaly as to 
time, any one's birthday falling on Monday, the 
twenty-third, on this voyage would have had two 
birthdays consecutively. 

On the eighth day out from Yokohama were seen 
the first signs of any other vessel and that only the 
smoke, the vessel itself being invisible. The first 
dance aboard on this trip on the evening of the 
eighth day proved a dismal failure, few or none of 
the men appearing to have the courage or inclination 
to ask for partners at dance. Unlike the voyage from 
New York to Naples, Cupid seemingly had nothing to 
do on this voyage. So little life aboard ship had not 
previously been experienced in our tour. 

On the ninth day out we were near the tropic of 
Cancer, about twenty-three degrees from the equator 
and pretty warm. At nine o'clock on the morning 
of July twenty-sixth, we went ashore at Honolulu, 
having made the run of three thousand three hun- 
dred miles from Yokohama in nine days and eighteen 
hours, less about close to five hours cut off from day 
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to day in our course eastward. The Manchuria had 
about one thousand five hundred tons of cargo (riostly 
cement) to unload at Honolulu. We were, therefore, 
advised we would have about twenty-four hours be- 
fore sailing for Frisco — good news for those of us 
who wished to see Honolulu. The latter is a rather 
pleasant-looking city, with some creditable public 
buildings and residences, besides two good hotels. A 
good electric street car system takes one in more or 
less all directions, especially out to the aquarium and 
Manoa Hotel, about two miles from the city. This 
hotel is both comfortable and attractive, with good 
service, besides being located on the beach where the 
breakers can be seen and heard at close range. One 
of the sports here, besides bathing, is to ride the break- 
ers in a native canoe; some of the natives have even 
mastered the art of standing on a board while riding 
the breakers into shore. The beautiful colors of the 
water, as seen from Honolulu, are unequaled any- 
where, so far as my observation goes. The colors of 
the water may or may not have something to do with 
the richness of colors on some of the fish in the aqua- 
rium. Never, except in the plumage of birds or fowl, 
had I previously seen such colorings on any liv- 
ing thing. If it were possible for an artist to mix 
colors of such richness one might be disposed to be- 
lieve some of the fish in the aquarium had been 
[310] 



DOING OVER. 

painted. Aside from the colors, the variety of fish 
was large, considering they are all said to be caught 
in the neighborhood of the Hawaiian Islands. The 
population of the city is said to be about thirty-five 
thousand. While the temperature in the centre of 
the city was hot, even oppressive, a delightful breeze 
came off the ocean. The native Hawaiians, in color, 
are about like our mulattoes, but without the African 
features. The pure natives, of which there are said 
now to be but few, are of good features, some of the 
women being beautiful. While the hills immediately 
back of Honolulu are barren to a faulty vegetation 
and plant life all through the city is tropical. Sev- 
eral parks add to the attractiveness of the city. The 
latter I would think an ideal place for those desiring 
a warm climate in the winter months. Sugar cane is, 
of course, the principal product of the Hawaiian Is- 
lands, though some coffee is grown, besides cocoa- 
nuts and banauas. The stop at Honolulu was mainly 
interesting because of being Uncle Sam's possession, 
and besides it gave us opportunity to get some exer- 
cise on terra firma for the remaining six days' run 
to Frisco. In exchange for the nearly eight hundred 
Japanese coolies, which had been brought over from 
Japan for Honolulu, we took aboard an equal number 
of Japanese from Honolulu for Frisco. 

The Hawaiian Islands seem the stepping-stone of 
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the Mikado's subjects for the United States. Instead 
of the thoroughly Japanese crowd brought from 
Japan, those taken aboard at Honolulu had become 
Americanized, so far as that their Japanese clothes 
and kimonas had been discarded for American coat 
and trousers. About eighty first-cabin passengers 
were also taken aboard, while some brought from 
Yokohama remained in Honolulu. 

The Hindu custom of decorating departing friends 
with wreaths of flowers also prevails at Honolulu, and 
many of the passengers who came aboard were thus 
profusely decorated. 

On July twenty-seventh, at ten o 'clock in the morn- 
ing, we finally steamed away from the pier at Hono- 
lulu with anticipations of Frisco and home growing 
ever stronger in me. I had for some weeks felt dis- 
quieted regarding the physical condition of my 
mother, and to her I wished I might now fly. Life 
aboard the Manchuria did not undergo any change 
between Honolulu and Frisco from what it had pre- 
viously been. The weather was ideal, added to which 
were full moonlit nights, the temperature having 
grown cooler as we proceeded. My note book on July 
thirtieth refers to the time as growing almost unbear- 
ably long as the distance to Frisco grew steadily 
shorter. 

The last day out from Frisco brought a raw, cold, 
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high wind and high seas, and sight of several four- 
masted schooners, full-rigged, tacking their way 
Frisco-ward, against unfavorable conditions. One of 
the latter came right toward us and the Manchuria's 
course being not changed gave the appearance for a 
time that there must be a collision ; as it was, when we 
passed across the schooner's bow, the latter did not 
look more than five hundred yards away. Close fig- 
uring on the part of our skipper, it seemed. The last 
day out from our destination brought with it the 
death of the purser, and gloom to the ship's officers. 
The gloom of the ship 's officers must have been trivial 
as compared with that occasioned on her very next 
trip out from Frisco, ten days later, when the Man- 
churia ran upon the rocks, spreading gloom over the 
passengers as well. 



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CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE END OF THE TOUR. 



August second, early, and San Francisco Bay, and 
the five thousand four hundred and eighty-nine mile 
voyage had been safely overcome in fifteen days and 
sixteen hours, actual running time. Poor Frisco, with 
evident traces of the earthquake horror still appar- 
ent on all sides, from the Manchuria's decks did yet 
look frightfully good to me. Though having acquired 
patience in the orient, the six hours' detention out in 
the bay while immigrant, customs and health officers 
scrutinized the passengers (largely the Japanese and 
Chinese), was just about bearable. By two o'clock 
the Manchuria was finally tied up at her pier, the 
passengers quickly came ashore and were again in 
dear old Uncle Sam's land to face the ordeal of the 
customs inspectors. The latter proved both tedious 
and aggravating in the extreme to our party, due to 
an unfortunate remark by one of them to a hot-headed 
inspector. We had planned to take the first train 
in the evening out of Frisco for home, and all but 
missed it because of the above incident. Fortunately 
we had gone up into the city immediately upon land- 
ing, arranged for sleepers, and had seen all we de- 
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DOING OVER. 

sired of the ruins before the ordeal of the customs 
inspector. When, finally, the latter had come to his 
senses, our foreign purchases examined and duty paid, 
just time enough was left us to transfer luggage and 
ourselves over to the Southern Pacific Station in Oak- 
land. Thus we had reached the far west, Frisco, by 
a continuous going eastward, and eastward we must 
continue to reach home again. In India we had seen 
many cities that had been destroyed in times past, 
through warfare, but whether, because they were so 
completely in ruins or because Frisco's destruction 
was of such recent occurrence, the latter appeared 
greater than any seen in India. The streets of Frisco 
had been cleared of the debris and a few new build- 
ings had already been reared skyward, but ruin was 
to be seen on all sides. It is unlikely that any one 
not present can picture the horrors of those days im- 
mediately following the earthquake, but the remain- 
ing ruins speak volumes of frightful horror, distress 
and suffering. The grandeur of the picture of the 
city building rent from its dome to the foundations, 
the statue of liberty seemingly intact at the top of 
the dome, might well be preserved as it was, as an 
enduring spectacle of the earthquake's ravages. On 
the day of our visit the sun shone so brightly that it 
might have been charged with smiling upon the 
earth's victory over man's skill. But we were 
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to get away from this destruction and at about six 
o'clock the Southern Pacific train pulled out of Oak- 
land with at least one overjoyed passenger bound for 
home. How natural was the comfortable Pullman, 
though we had not seen one for seven months. About 
ten o'clock the next morning we had reached the 
Nevada line and all day traveled through the Nevada 
desert lands, entirely barren except for occasional lit- 
tle patches of partly green vegetation or tumble weed. 
On August fourth, the second morning out, we ar- 
rived in Salt Lake City, about nine hundred miles 
from Frisco and four thousand two hundred and 
twenty-five feet above the sea level. A few hours 
were spent in Salt Lake City and at three-fifty in 
the afternoon, over the Denver and Rio Grande, we 
started again homeward. During the following morn- 
ing we passed through the Colorado Royal Gorge. 
The latter, for rugged grandeur, eclipsed any scenery 
we had seen in any part of the tour around the world. 
Though over five thousand feet above the sea level, 
a goodly stream rushes down, eventually to mix with 
the Gulf. The highest point reached in the run toward 
Denver was at Tennessee Pass, ten thousand two hun- 
dred and forty feet above the sea — Denver being but 
five thousand two hundred feet, and one thousand 
six hundred and eleven miles from Frisco. In the 
afternoon of August fifth, we arrived in Denver, 
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where, a few moments later, aboard a Union Pacific 
train, I continued on toward Omaha, the scenery the 
while being very pleasing, and thousands of acres of 
fertile lands. On the morning of August sixth my 
train pulled into Omaha, crossing the Missouri River, 
and at three o'clock, in the afternoon, at Clinton, 
Iowa, the Mississippi was crossed. Our party of 
three had remained together throughout until reach- 
ing Denver, where we separated. I was thus alone 
for the remaining run to Chicago, where I arrived 
about nine o'clock, August sixth, just seven months 
to the day from the start from New York on January 
sixth. 

The round-the-world tour was now finished, and 
Chicago did look so good to me. The trip had cost 
me about exclusive of money spent in pur- 
chases and duty thereon. If it were possible to recall 
the money spent and thereby effectually efface from 
my memory the incidents, the hardships, inconven- 
iences of, and interest in, the trip, I would not for one 
moment think of doing so. 

The work of rewriting these notes, which is now at 
an end, gave added pleasure, and with more than nine 
hundred photographs of scenes taken by one of our 
party throughout our travels, a continuous interest 
is assured me. 

In addition to the good fortune to have made the 
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foregoing tour without serious illness or accident, was 
the providential privilege to have returned home in 
time to be at the bedside of my dying mother. Though 
the end was said to have been close at hand for some 
days prior to my home-coming, my dear mother seem- 
ingly lived for my return and forty-eight hours there- 
after her spirit fled hence to join that of my father, 
who had preceded her by fourteen years, to that 
eternal home where some day, in another long jour- 
ney, I hope to overtake them. The fear that death 
would come to my mother before I could get to her 
bedside had given me much concern while I was yet 
far from home. One of the best mothers that ever 
lived, mine, gave up this life in her eighty-sixth year 
with no apparent suffering, to journey hence to enjoy 
the blessings of that other world. 



318 



nrc ^.3 V^O* 



